HALIFAX -- Questionable political donations that are now under investigation by Elections Nova Scotia were made at a Liberal fundraising dinner in his Cape Breton riding, Energy Minister Michel Samson confirmed Thursday.

The donations, totalling $300, were singled out in the Grant Thornton forensic audit of municipal spending in Richmond County that was released Tuesday.

Samson said the donations were made by 10 Richmond County councillors at a fundraising dinner hosted by the Cape Breton Richmond Liberal Association in May 2014, although the audit says there were "seven instances" at a Liberal event.

He said the money involved was donated through personal cheques by the individual councillors and that some had the "honest but mistaken" belief that they could seek reimbursement from the municipality, though they couldn't under the Elections Act.

"The audit has indicated that while Richmond policy was silent on whether this was reimbursable, it is clear that this doesn't meet the laws of the Elections Act and therefore was not eligible for reimbursement," said Samson.

He said it's not the responsibility of the Liberal Party to reimburse taxpayers.

"What we did receive was personal cheques from individuals who paid for tickets from their own money," Samson said. "What the audit clearly indicates was it would not have been reimbursed by the municipality, therefore this is an issue between the councillors and the municipality."

Opposition Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie said the Liberals should pay the money back because they know as a result of the audit that the contributions broke the rules regarding political donations.

"The taxpayers of Richmond County ultimately paid for those donations to the Liberal party ... and the only thing to do now that they (Liberals) know it is to pay the money back."

Elections Nova Scotia would only say it is investigating after a forensic audit found instances of Richmond County councillors claiming reimbursement for expenses perceived to be political donations, but the elections watchdog said it wouldn't be releasing any other details.

"We don't discuss the specifics of any ongoing investigation," said spokesman Andy LeBlanc. "If we do find that there is non-compliance with the Elections Act then we would at that point make those findings public."

The audit, which looked at roughly $800,000 in expense claims, couldn't determine the appropriateness of many expenses due to a lack of documentation with 440 of 603 transactions not supported by detailed receipts.

It also found questionable expense claims by some councillors and senior staff, including money spent on alcohol and $582 charged for visits to two Texas strip clubs.