MHCare demands AHS investigation results
MHCare Medical Corp., owned by Sam Mraiche, has asked the province and Alberta Health Services to distribute a report AHS commissioned in the fall of 2024. The health authority, under its former chief executive, hired Borden Ladner Gervais LLP to investigate deals for certain private surgical facilities, including two owned in part by Mr. Mraiche. The examination was later broadened to include MHCare and related entities.
Mr. Mraiche and his companies are central to a wrongful dismissal lawsuit from the health authority's former CEO, Athana Mentzelopoulos, alleging government officials inappropriately leaned on her to sign deals she thought favoured private companies. MHCare notes Ms. Mentzelopoulos and AHS both reference the Borden Ladner Gervais investigation in their respective legal filings.
MHCare, tied to allegations involving the Alberta government, says it is being unfairly attacked
The allegations and political fallout have damaged Mr. Mraiche's reputation, MHCare says in a statement dated June 25 and provided to The Globe and Mail. The company argues the law firm's report could absolve Mr. Mraiche.
'At no point has the law firm's audit been shared with Mr. Mraiche, even though he continues to be subjected to baseless, harmful suggestions of wrongdoing – the accuracy of which, this audit might help to disprove," the statement says.
MHCare argues there is no legal obligation to keep the law-firm report secret. MHCare's two-page statement was accompanied by a letter one of the company's lawyers sent the government and AHS, asking for the report. Borden Ladner Gervais, on behalf of the health authority, rejected the request, claiming solicitor-client privilege.
Neither Mr. Mraiche nor MHCare are party to Ms. Mentzelopoulos's lawsuit, meaning they cannot file court documents defending themselves.
The RCMP, Alberta's Auditor-General, and a retired Manitoba judge selected by Premier Danielle Smith, are conducting separate investigations into Ms. Mentzelopoulos's allegations.
Mr. Mraiche's company says it has yet to be interviewed by the Office of the Auditor-General or the former Manitoba judge.
'This situation is profoundly unfair and unacceptable,' MHCare says in the statement. 'It leaves our CEO with no opportunity for public exoneration, even as media reports, innuendo, rumours and political attacks continue to linger.'
Neither AHS nor the Premier's Office acknowledged a request for comment late Wednesday.
It is unclear whether Borden Ladner Gervais finished its work. The government ordered AHS to halt its probe into private surgical facilities in December. An AHS summary of the law firm's findings, dated Jan. 10 and obtained by The Globe and Mail, says the health authority had not received a draft or final report related to the facilities owned in part by Mr. Mraiche.
Borden Ladner Gervais was scheduled to provide AHS with a report into MHCare's historical contracting on Jan. 31. The government, however, dissolved the AHS board that day.
AHS and the government deny Ms. Mentzelopoulos's allegations, which she levelled as part of her $1.7-million lawsuit. In response, Alberta alleges she was fired for failing at her job. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
MHCare also denies wrongdoing. 'No charge of misconduct against the company or our CEO has ever been made by the province, AHS or law enforcement,' its statement says.
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