RCMP investigating at medical supplier named in AHS lawsuit

Mounties are searching MHCare Medical in Edmonton. The medical supplier is owned by Sam Mraiche, a man at the centre of a health procurement scandal.

The RCMP is carrying out multiple search warrants linked to Alberta’s health care procurement controversy, including at one Edmonton business at the centre of the scandal.

Mounties have been at MHCare Medical in northwest Edmonton for at least two days.

Multiple unmarked police vehicles, and at least one marked vehicle, could be seen outside the supplier early Thursday. Officers were spotted going in and out of the building.

MHCare is owned by Sam Mraiche, a businessman named multiple times in a health procurement lawsuit last year.

He has ties to multiple high-ranking officials and politicians in Alberta’s UCP government.

One expert says the search warrants are a clear sign that the investigation is moving ahead.

“In order to secure a search warrant, it has to be approved by a judge (who) would have signed off and said ‘yes, there’s reasonable grounds to believe that the search will produce more evidence of a crime,’” said Mount Royal University Justice Studies Professor Doug King.

“It can’t be a fishing expedition.”

Mraiche and the UCP government have denied all wrongdoing.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Procurement background

A lawsuit was filed last February by the former head of Alberta Health Services over government supply contracts.

In it, Athana Mentzalopolous claimed some provincial health contracts were purposely inflated — and then given to government friends.

Mraiche has been granted more than $600 million in taxpayer-funded contracts, including an especially criticized deal for children’s pain medication.

He also attended an NHL hockey playoff game with Premier Danielle Smith, members of her staff and multiple UCP MLAs.

Multiple investigations

The RCMP would only tell CTV News on Thursday it has an investigation “related to Alberta Health Services” and included “multiple search warrants.”

A note to Mraiche’s legal team went unanswered.

But the Mounties don’t have the only procurement investigation.

Last year, Danielle Smith’s government ordered the Wyant Report, which included multiple recommendations the province has since taken. It also cleared Smith and her ministers of wrongdoing.

But that report was heavily criticized for having a limited scope in who it could compel to testify.

Alberta’s Auditor General is also looking into the procurement practices, but as of now, there’s no timeline for its final report.

Its office tells CTV News that “progress has taken longer than anticipated due to the ongoing receipt of relevant documentation and the availability of key interviewees.”

The Auditor General’s term wraps up at the end of April, and it is expected document review and interviews will be completed and findings determined before then.

The examination will then move into the report-writing phase under a successor.

The premier has repeatedly refused calls for a public inquiry.

Smith won’t comment

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi renewed calls for a public inquiry during question period on Thursday morning, but Smith offered little details about the MHCare search.

“The member opposite well knows that we cannot and will not comment on policing matters,” she said.

“This is an AHS matter, looking at AHS personnel, and we would ask for everyone to be patient while the RCMP does its work.”

Mraiche’s lawyer, Scott Hutchison, sent CTV News a statement Thursday saying his client has not engaged in any improper conduct.

— with files from The Canadian Press