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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not yet aware a $10.5-million payment to Omar Khadr had been finalized when news of the settlement leaked to the media in the summer of 2017, an internal report shows — suggesting one explanation for why the government launched a wide-ranging hunt for the source of the leak.

The Prime Minister’s Office told the National Post Trudeau had authorized the general terms of the settlement ahead of time, including the dollar amount. But when the story appeared in the media Trudeau was travelling overseas and had not been told the settlement was signed, according to an internal report produced by Public Services and Procurement Canada, one of the departments asked to search for the source of the leak, and obtained by the Post via an access-to-information request.

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The Globe and Mail first reported the Khadr settlement on the evening of Monday, July 3, just after Trudeau had arrived in Ireland for a visit ahead of the G20 meeting in Germany. The Globe’s story said the government was going to issue an apology and a settlement to Khadr later that week.