Allaudin Merali, the former Capital Health CFO who made headlines when his expense claims were made public, has issued a statement regarding the expenses and the results of an audit released Thursday.
Merali says he abided by the expense standards in place at Capital Health at the time, and doesn’t feel he should be singled out or held up to different standards than other health executives.
“First and foremost, I believe the comments of the AHS Board Chair in regard to the expenses of four current AHS executives should also apply to mine,” said Merali in a written statement.
He goes on to quote the Board Chair who, in reference to an internal audit of health executives’ expenses in Calgary, stated “The individual amounts and the types of expenses claimed suggest that policies and practices at the time should have been tighter and clearer, but that the individuals concerned filed expense claims with the information they had available following the standards and expectations of the time… Consequently, in my mind, the integrity of these executives is not in question.”
In his written statement, Merali said that conclusion should apply in his case as well. “I think this comment is fair, and it would also be a fair comment on my own expenses. The standards today at AHS are tighter, and I was fully committed to abiding by those standards when I was hired as Chief Financial Officer of AHS.”
He added “I cannot accept that my past expenses are held up to a different standard and reported in the media without context and without regard to simple fairness, so as to cast implicit doubts on my integrity.”
You can read Merali’s full statement here:
Alberta Health Services (AHS) has released the results of an independent external audit of expenses claimed by former Capital Health CFO Allaudin Merali between 2005 and 2008.
Merali was fired as finance boss at the former Capital Health Region over questionable expense claims.
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According to Ernst & Young, the company hired to do the audit, $368,750 worth of expenses were paid to or on behalf of Allaudin Merali by Capital Health. In August, AHS stated Merali’s expense claims totalled $346,208. Ernst & Young reviewed the supporting schedules and doesn’t know how the total was determined by Alberta Health Services.
Only about half of the expenses filed by Merali were within guidelines and backed up by receipts, an audit has found. According to the report, $5,600 was not in accordance with the Capital Health policies, including $2,300 to install a phone in his car.
$9,000 was indeterminable, meaning Ernst & Young was unable to determine if the expenses were or were not in accordance with policies.
It means the rest of what Merali expensed was allowed under Capital Health policies at the time. The policies have changed significantly since Merali’s tenure with Capital Health and so has the transparency of Alberta Health Services, which now posts all executive and board expenses on its website.
Stephen Lockwood, chairman of the Alberta Health Services board, said he wouldn’t comment on Merali’s expenses because Captial Health was disbanded when the province moved to one provincial health board in 2009.
Alberta Health Services “today is not accountable for decisions made before Alberta Health Services was created,” he said in a statement accompanying the audit.
“I would be concerned if I thought these expense claims were more than oversights or clerical mistakes,” Lockwood wrote in his statement. “In my mind, the integrity of these executives is not in question.”
He said the claims that didn’t meet guidelines will all be reimbursed.
The audit details a list of lavish perks that were approved, including a $900-a-month car allowance, business-class travel and restaurant meals for which no records of who attended or what was discussed were kept. Merali also charged for mileage, despite his car allowance.
Merali billed more than $4,300 in travel expenses for which no record of authorization exists. His total car expenses over the three years, including car washes, repairs and insurance, came to more than $73,000. He spent more than $27,000 on food and beverages in Edmonton alone with full approval of Capital Health.
The audit notes most of Merali’s expenses were approved by Capital Health CEO Sheila Weatherill, who resigned from the board of Alberta Health Services after news stories about the expense claims.
Another internal audit was released Thursday involving the expenses of four Alberta Health Services executives who held positions with the former Calgary Health Region.
Ernst & Young says it depended on AHS management to provide information for the audit.
To view the expenses audit, click here.
An internal audit of expenses for four former Calgary Health Region executives between 2005 and 2008, including Dr. Chris Eagle who’s the current President and CEO of AHS, was also conducted under the former executives own requests.
To view the internal audit, click here.
With files from The Canadian Press
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