Nova Scotia's auditor general will examine an immigration program that has prompted a lawsuit and a multimillion-dollar refund to hundreds of people.

Jacques Lapointe said it's appropriate for his office to investigate.

"This affects a lot of people and it also includes a fair amount of money so there are financial risks involved. That being the case, it's appropriate for us to look at this thing," Lapointe told CBC News.

He made the announcement Wednesday, hours after a committee of the legislature asked him to look into the controversial business mentorship program.

New Democrat MLA Graham Steele said it's time to get answers to the nagging questions that remain about the program.

"Why was the contract that is apparently worth tens of millions of dollars just handed to a company rather than seeing if there was anyone else who wanted to do it?" he said.

"Where did all this money go? Whose wallet has ended up being fatter as a result of this program? That's part of what the public accounts committee and the auditor general need to look into in some detail."

Under the program, foreign nationals paid $130,000 each for a six-month internship that would allow them to immigrate to Nova Scotia. They got paid a minimum salary of $20,000, with companies getting up to $80,000 to cover costs associated with being a mentor. About $30,000 went to cover program fees.

Nova Scotia is now offering to pay back $100,000 to about 600 applicants who have not started the program. But the province says the 200 who graduated are ineligible, though some say they were given ill-suited mentorships and never got their money's worth.

The business mentor program is now being phased out. It was administered by Cornwallis Financial until last year, when the province did not renew its contract. The private firm has since filed a lawsuit.

Officials from the province's Office of Immigration are scheduled to appear before the public accounts committee later this month.

Liberal MLA Diana Whalen said the committee may also call former immigration minister Carolyn Bolivar-Getson and others to testify.

"We need to go back to the department of economic development because that's the department that held the file when it was first created, when Cornwallis held the contract and when they thought up the idea of this economic nominee program, so we need to hear from them," she said.

The immigration portfolio was handed to Len Goucher in a cabinet shuffle last week.

On Friday, senior immigration officials spent two hours answering reporters' questions about the controversial program. They said they received few complaints about it, but acknowledged there were problems.

With files from the Canadian Press