RCMP Probe Into AHS Contracts: Albertans Deserve Answers
A court letter has finally put words to what the RCMP is looking at in Alberta's health procurement scandal. The words are fraud, breach of trust and money laundering. Nobody has been charged, but Albertans are owed answers.
By Jason LaFace | Alberta Radio
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
What the letter says
The letter is dated Oct. 15 and was filed in a civil case connected to the procurement affair. It comes from Tom Andreopoulos, a Crown prosecutor with the Complex Prosecutions Bureau at Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General. He writes that his office is responsible for advisory support and "the prosecution of any charges that may arise from the ongoing Royal Canadian Mounted Police criminal investigation into fraud, breach of trust, and money laundering arising out of procurement processes and practices at Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services." Two other Ontario prosecutors, Niall Gilks and Alana Rodrigo, are copied.
It's the first time the possible offences have been spelled out publicly. The letter doesn't say who is under investigation or why Ontario prosecutors are handling an Alberta file. Provinces sometimes bring in prosecutors from outside when a case is politically sensitive and a conflict of interest could arise.
How we got here
In January 2025, the government fired Athana Mentzelopoulos, then head of AHS. A month later she sued for wrongful dismissal. She alleged she was let go while her office was investigating possible conflicts of interest in AHS procurement. The RCMP received a complaint in February 2025 and confirmed a criminal probe the following month.
Much of the focus has been on Edmonton-based MHCare Medical Corp., which has received roughly $614 million in business from AHS since 2020. That includes a $70-million deal in 2022 to import children's pain and fever medication from Turkey. Only about a third of that medication was ever delivered, and less was used. Roughly half was donated to other countries and the rest was destroyed.
In March 2026, officers executed search warrants at businesses connected to the probe. In June, an AHS senior vice-president confirmed under questioning that the agency had received a production order to hand over records. To get one, police have to convince a judge or justice of the peace there are reasonable grounds to believe an offence was committed. The auditor general has also examined the procurement controversy.
Presumed innocent, full stop
Let's be clear. No charges have been laid. An investigation is not a conviction, and everyone involved is presumed innocent. MHCare's owner, Sam Mraiche, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer says he and the company "have consistently maintained that they have not engaged in any improper conduct." That's their right, and it deserves to be respected.
Why conservatives should care most
Six hundred and fourteen million dollars is not a rounding error. It's the kind of money that could shorten ER waits and surgical lists. And $70 million for children's medicine, most of which never made it to a kid's medicine cabinet, is exactly the kind of waste that should make every taxpayer angry, whatever the investigators eventually find.
Conservatives believe in small, accountable government. That belief only means something if we apply it to our own side. This government promised to fix health care and break up a bloated AHS bureaucracy. The best way to prove it's serious is full cooperation with investigators, maximum transparency on how these contracts were awarded, and real protection for public servants who raise concerns.
If the process was clean, the documents will show it. If it wasn't, Albertans deserve to know who signed off, and why. Either way, let the investigators do their work, and let the chips fall where they may.
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Source: Os1ris News Aggregation
