I'm sure this is nothing more than a dog and pony show to save face with the public.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Former+Allaudin+Merali+getting+severance+package/7047453/story.html
Former AHS CFO Allaudin Merali won’t be getting severance package
Expenses incurred also under review
By Jamie Komarnicki August 6, 2012
The former Alberta Health Services chief financial officer at the centre of a health care spending controversy will not receive severance, the medical board announced Monday.
Allaudin Merali’s $346,208 in expenses racked up during his tenure as finance boss at the former Capital Health Region between 2005 and 2008 — and expenses during his three-months in the same position at AHS — will also be subject to an independent forensic audit, the board said in a news release.
“An arm’s-length audit is essential,” AHS president and chief executive Dr. Chris Eagle stated in the release.
“Although we cannot speak to concerns prior to the creation of AHS, Albertans want and expect a thorough review and complete accounting.”
Health Minister Fred Horne directed the audit be conducted by an external accounting firm, which the AHS board is set to appoint this week. It will look at whether Merali’s expense claims followed policies and practices in place under the former Capital Health and AHS’s current policies.
The results will be made public.“I believe there are still many unanswered questions with respect to the expenses,” Horne said Monday.
“I believe AHS needs to get an independent auditor in there to look at it, and if anything else is found at the same time that suggests there should be more investigation, then that auditor should be able to recommend that.”AHS officials have previously said the expenses Merali claimed between 2005 and 2008 were allowable under Capital Health policy in place at the time, and that the current AHS expense rules are more stringent.
Horne said the explanation doesn’t go far enough.Questions raised about the expenses warrant “a much better explanation than what’s been made available to Albertans,” the minister said.
Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said Monday the government is in “damage control” mode, first claiming the expenses were allowed, then, in the face of mounting public outrage, calling the forensic audit, which can have potential legal ramifications.
Smith said other senior health executives, some of whom were involved with the former regional health boards and now have top jobs at AHS, should also have their previous expenses scrutinized, and the forensic auditor should report back to the Legislature.
Horne is “trying to do the least amount possible to quell taxpayer anger. It’s not an isolated incident with one guy,” Smith contended.
“We need to shine the light on that so that those executives are also shown the door. We can’t allow this kind of mismanagement and abuse of tax dollars to continue happening here.”Acting board chair Catherine Roozen said the audit will be expedited.
The medical board has also asked the auditor general to review its current expense policies, and has said it will publicly post records of paid expenses for its CEO and other top executives with the organization.
When announcing Merali’s exit from the organization last week, AHS said Merali will “receive a severance in accordance with the terms of his employment contract.” Acting chief executive Chris Mazurkewich said last week the severance package was still being finalized, however, the standard contract for executives is a one-year payout.
Merali’s annual base salary as AHS chief financial officer was $425,000.
Merali left the organization last Wednesday, hours before news broke about the claims he rang in during his tenure with the former Capital Health. The claims included receipts for swanky restaurant bills, including a $220 dinner in 2005 with Horne, who was a health consultant at the time, and car repairs to Merali’s Mercedes-Benz.
His boss who signed off on the claims, former Capital Health chief executive Sheila Weatherill, also stepped down last week from her position on the AHS board.
Horne said Monday the forensic auditor will only be asked to look at Merali’s expenses, but could expand the review if questionable practices and expenses are found.
“I’m not going to dictate what that is,” he said. Horne said he would “answer any questions that were posed to me,” by the auditor in relation to the 2005 dinner Merali expensed in his name, though he can’t specifically recall the situation and who else may have attended.Merali previously pocketed a $1 million severance and 10-year executive retirement package worth $13,303 monthly when Capital Health was amalgamated into AHS.
This spring, the government was prepared to hire Merali as its chief controller in the Department of Finance and Treasury Board, though the executive instead took the AHS finance job.
The Tory government has said it was aware of public reports that Merali, while a consultant for eHealth Ontario, had come under criticism for numerous expenses he charged on top of his $2,750 daily fee and $75 per diem.
Horne said Associate Minister of accountability, transparency and transformation Don Scott will also be launching a further review of hiring, selection and contracting priorities at AHS, “in conjunction with a government-wide initiative.”
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