The province's former acting ombudsman says his office has "no jurisdiction" over politicians and was not able to determine if a whistleblower's complaint against cabinet minister Steve Ashton was true.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger and embattled Infrastructure Minister Steve Ashton say they support a second investigation by the provincial ombudsman into allegations from a whistleblower who said Ashton was possibly in conflict of interest over promising $5 million in flood fighting equipment in July 2014.

The Manitoba Ombudsman received a complaint from a whistleblower alleging Ashton had interfered with the purchase of flood equipment.

The Ombudsman then referred the complaint to the Clerk of the Executive Council in November 2014. Among the six allegations was an accusation Ashton was in a conflict of interest over the deal and that he tried to circumvent the Treasury Board.

Mel Holley,the acting Ombudsman at the time, said the office was unable to determine if the whistleblower's allegations were accurate.

"We don't know that," Holley said. "We didn't do the kind of investigation that would take a year and a half to do. It simply wasn't appropriate. There are resource issues, you know, in the ombudsman's office, there are timing issues, and there are practical issues."

The ombudsman's office may now investigate again, but Holley said the office operates under clear parameters that will make it difficult.

"The ombudsman doesn't have jurisdiction over politicians, but we do have jurisdictions over departments," he said. "So it's a department that sends forward a treasury board submission or a request for money. So we had jurisdiction, but the substance of the allegation related to a cabinet minister over whom we don't have jurisdiction."

The allegations came after Ashton made a funding announcement with Glenn Hudson who was then chief of Peguis First Nation. Some of the flood fighting equipment was to end up in Peguis.

CBC News obtained an invoice signed by Interlake Reserves Tribal Council to an Alberta company for the amount dated July 30. (See the invoice below.)

Selinger said it was a mistake that Ashton had given the tribal council the impression that the money would be coming to them and that Ashton told them to cancel the invoice immediately.

However, sources tell CBC News the Treasury Board refused Ashton's request to give the IRTC the money for the TigerDams because it was a sole-sourced contract that would have been awarded to a financial donor to Steve Ashton's 2009 NDP Leadership bid.

The recommendation from Treasury Board was discussed at a cabinet meeting in October. Selinger said he immediately asked that a tender go out.

But the tendering process began in December and closed six weeks later. It has yet to be awarded.

Selinger said it's taken so long because the promise of inflatable dams was less important than other flood fighting priorities such as the emergency channel out of Lake Manitoba.

Sources said some of the cabinet ministers were also angry with the premier's handling of the sole-sourced contract and decided to speak out. Five top ministers called for Selinger's resignation last October.

On November 3, Theresa Oswald, minister of jobs and the economy, Jennifer Howard, minister of finance and chair of the Treasury Board, Stan Struthers, minister of municipal affairs, Erin Selby, minister of health and Andrew Swan, minister of justice, resigned from their cabinet posts.

At the time they kept their reasons quiet, only making vague complaints about how the premier wouldn't listen to them. But sources said the premier's inaction to block the Ashton sole-sourced contract was a key trigger to their revolt.

The rebellion sparked a three-way leadership race that pitted the premier against Ashton and Oswald. In the end, Selinger clung to power, beating Oswald on the second ballot by a narrow 33-vote margin.