RCMP officers and vehicles were seen on Thursday at the west Edmonton offices of a businessman at the centre of multiple probes into Alberta’s health-related procurement practices.
A witness who works across the street from the office building housing MHCare Medical and Carver PA Corporation said RCMP members and vehicles had been going in and out of the building at 148th Street and 119th Avenue since Tuesday.
In emails to CBC News on Thursday, RCMP spokesperson Jessica Murphy said Mounties are “executing multiple search warrants,” but said in order to protect the integrity of the investigation she could not comment further.
Since February 2025, RCMP have been investigating a complaint about contracting practices at Alberta Health Services (AHS). Murphy said Thursday the investigation into that matter is ongoing.
The complaint to police came as former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against AHS and Adriana LaGrange, one of the province’s health ministers.
Mentzelopoulos’ 2025 lawsuit claims she was terminated for scrutinizing multimillion-dollar public contracts to purchase children’s pain medication and provide surgeries at privately run clinics.
The allegations have not been tested in court. The government and AHS have said in statements of defence that Mentzelopoulos was not achieving what she was hired to do and denied the allegations.
Alberta’s auditor general, the RCMP and a retired Manitoba judge — who was hired by the Alberta government — all began investigations last year.
At the heart of the probes are contracts that AHS signed with companies controlled by businessman Sam Mraiche to provide personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, buy children’s medication that went mostly unused in Alberta and now-abandoned agreements to open new private surgical facilities in Red Deer and Lethbridge.
Corporate records show Mraiche or other companies that he owns control MHCare Medical and Carver PA Corporation, the two businesses where RCMP members showed up at this week.
Critics have slammed Premier Danielle Smith and some of her cabinet ministers for accepting tickets for NHL playoff games as gifts from Mraiche and his business partners.
“Mr. Mraiche and MHCare have consistently maintained that they have not engaged in any improper conduct,” Mraiche’s lawyer said in an email to CBC News on Thursday. “That remains the case and they are confident that any fair and objective investigation will reach that conclusion.”
In a report released in the fall, retired judge Raymond Wyant said there were “real or perceived” conflicts of interest with some contracts, but the scope of his investigation was limited.
Cheryl Schneider, a spokesperson for auditor general Doug Wylie, said Thursday that he will not be able to complete his report into allegations of procurement irregularities before his term finishes at the end of April.
She said Wylie does hope to finish interviews and arrive at some findings before his term ends. Staff working in his office will complete the report after he leaves, Schneider said.
“The auditor general is disappointed that he will not be able to complete this report before the conclusion of his term, which was his intended goal,” she said in an email.
“Progress has taken longer than anticipated due to the ongoing receipt of relevant documentation and the availability of key interviewees.”
The Alberta government is in charge of appointing Wylie’s replacement.
Justice Minister Mickey Amery told reporters at the legislature on Thursday that the auditor general’s office runs its investigations independently of the government.
“Expect that when the transition happens, that the investigations that are ongoing will continue,” he said.
Amery said he’s unaware of the RCMP interviewing any United Conservative cabinet ministers in relation to the procurement investigation. He said police have not requested an interview with him.
“Justice Wyant’s report says very clearly that there was no wrongdoing by any of the government officials, cabinet, senior officials here in the government of Alberta, or members of caucus,” Amery said.
“I’m very confident in that report.”
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi told reporters that he believes Amery should resign from cabinet and as an MLA because he is a relative and friend of Mraiche.
The Globe and Mail has reported that Amery is a friend and relative of Mraiche. CBC News has not independently confirmed the men are related.
Amery did not comment on his relationship with Mraiche when a reporter asked him to on Thursday.
Nenshi repeated his call for the government to hold an independent public inquiry into procurement allegations. He said the scope of Wyant’s investigation was too limited to determine whether any politicians or their staff were engaged in wrongdoing.
Infrastructure Minister Martin Long said Thursday that a 2024 transaction where Alberta Infrastructure bought a parcel of commercial land at 144th Street and 124th Avenue in Edmonton from a company headed by Mraiche is the only deal he knows of between his ministry and Mraiche.
When asked if it was time for a public inquiry into procurement, Long said he’s confident in the conduct of his government, the premier and her staff.
“I have zero questions about the processes that we’ve done as government, and I’m very confident in my ministry’s approach,” he said.
