- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,214
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
A massive fraud, embezzlement and kickback scheme overseen by the senior manager in charge of construction projects at The Ottawa Hospital funnelled money away from the hospital during a time of financial stress and cutbacks and rewarded two former employees, their families and select contractors, the hospital alleges in an explosive statement of claim filed as part of a civil suit at Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
The 29-page statement of claim, which has not been tested in court, outlines an alleged conspiracy that included bid rigging and manipulation, as well as inflated prices paid to contractors for goods and services in exchange for kickbacks that occurred over years. The alleged payments included work on the homes and cottages of two hospital employees, jobs for their children, luxury trips, including one to a British Columbia fishing resort ending with a trip to California wine country in 2015, and more. The claim also alleges a second employee was coerced into approving improper invoices for half a million dollars of work that “nobody ever recalls happening.”
The hospital laid off hundreds of employees during the same period as hospital budgets across the province were squeezed.
The hospital has passed its file, the result of a third-party audit, to Ottawa police.
Frank Medwenitsch, the former head of the hospital’s facilities and planning department, resigned in October after he was confronted with some of the allegations. Among other charges against him, the hospital claims he arranged to have his daughters hired by two contractors alleged to have been involved in the scheme, but then paid at least one of them through the hospital, the document alleges. Medwenitsch worked for The Ottawa Hospital for 25 years. He admitted to some of the allegations in a September meeting with hospital officials.
In addition to Medwenitsch, who it claims oversaw the scheme, the suit names Brock Marshall, who most recently was director of engineering and operations in the hospital’s planning department. He worked at the hospital from 1989 until his retirement in early 2015. Neither he nor Medwenitsch were available for comment.
The suit also names companies and individuals the hospital alleges were co-conspirators in the fraud, they include: Gerard Dubé of D.R.S. Construction; Larry St. Pierre of Federal Electric Limited; Guy Adrian LaPierre of G.A.L. Power Systems Ottawa Ltd.; Roch St.-Louis of Pro Management Construction Inc.; and Ottawa Diamond Construction Inc. All of the companies have done work on Ottawa Hospital construction and renovation projects.
The statement of claim does not name a dollar figure for damages in what could be a multi-million dollar alleged scheme, but is asking Ontario Superior Court for an “injunction restraining the defendants from disposing of any of their assets.” It is also seeking $250,000 in punitive damages.
Dubé of DRS Construction said the allegations in the hospital’s statement of claim are not true. He said he never took Medwenitsch on a fishing trip, and had “absolutely nothing” to do with the repairs to Medwenitsch’s home or cottage.
Dubé said he has worked for the hospital for 33 years, often doing $3-million worth of jobs a year, which typically added up to 250 jobs from small moving and painting projects to $350,000 renovations. He said he hasn’t worked for the hospital since July 2015, but the hospital still owes him $1.4 million. Dubé added that he has receipts and emails to prove he did the work and proper procedures were followed.
“They all have a protocol to follow. We all follow the protocol,” he said.
Among the allegations in the statement of claim is an allegation that the bidding process was manipulated to ensure that DRS was the low bidder on a fireproofing contract. Dubé acknowledges that he was the lowest bidder, but says his price was $60,000 lower than the second-lowest bid. If he had known there was such a gap, Dubé said he would have have increased his own bid.
Larry St. Pierre, head of Federal Electric, said he was still reading the document containing the allegations when contacted by the Citizen. “I am surprised to see all of it,” he said. When asked if it was true he said “not all of it,” and then declined to comment further until he had finished reading it. Federal Electric is currently working on the $140 million expansion of the Ottawa Heart Institute.
The document alleges that Federal Electric employed Medwenitsch’s daughter, Katrina Haucke, as an accounting and administrative assistant between 2014 and 2015.
“Federal Electric then benefitted from inflated hospital purchase orders to partially cover the costs of employing Medwenitsch’s daughter,” the document claims. Medwenitsch spelled it out in a text message to Federal Electric, according to the civil suit, written on Aug. 19, 2014.”$1,280 of the $6,300 picks up Katrina — the remainder goes to the project,” Medwenitsch texted, according to the suit.
The hospital’s facilities and planning department is responsible for capital projects and renovations at the hospital, which have been massive over the past 15 years— worth more than $200 million.
Members of the city’s construction community say they have long questioned why work at The Ottawa Hospital seemed to be a “closed shop” and the majority of contractors could not even get in to bid for jobs. Doug Burnside, president of Donlyn Developments and former president of the General Contractors Association of Ottawa, said his family recently made a $1-million donation to the Royal Ottawa Hospital. It specifically chose not to donate to The Ottawa Hospital, he said, “because of their questionable practices.”
Another contractor said simply, “It’s about time,” in response to the hospital’s investigation.
In September, after being confronted with some of the claims, Medwenitsch retained counsel and met with hospital officials. During that meeting he “admitted that costs were misallocated between hospital projects and that he instructed some of the vendors to misallocate costs to other accounts, regardless of which projects actually incurred the costs.”
The statement alleges Medwenitsch gave the vendors procurement advantages at the hospital, including advance and draft copies of procurement documents, information about bids by competitors and internal hospital communications. The vendors also had “significant influence” over tenders at the hospital, including limiting competition by nominating their preferred competitors and excluding viable bids.
Medwenitsch and Marshall, the suit alleges, approved invoices for work that was either not done or incomplete and approved inflated invoices. “The hospital suffered losses resulting from inflated pricing caused by uncompetitive pricing, improper supervision of overhead and profit charges and subsequent change orders that were not subject to adequate checks and balances.”
In return for the improper and inflated invoices, Medwenitsch and Marshall, to some extent, were provided with “hospitality gifts, trips and payments, none of which were disclosed to or approved by the hospital.”
Among alleged kickbacks were multiple fishing trips including one to the Fairmont Kenauk Resort in Montebello, Que. for Medwenitsch “and various project managers from his department,” that G.A.L. Power and/ or Lapierre helped pay for. In July of last year, Medwenitsch and a manager from his department went on a “lavish fishing trip” paid for, or partially paid for, by Federal Electric and G.A.L. Power. The trip included flights to Vancouver, a luxury hotel stay in Vancouver, fishing and a trip to the Napa Valley, which their spouses attended.
Mewenitsch acknowledged to hospital officials that he went on fishing trips in 2013, 2014 and 2015, some of them free. He also acknowledged hospital suppliers had done work on his cottage and his home.
Not only did Federal Electric employ Medwenitsch’s daughter Haucke, but G.A.L. Power employed his other daughter, Stephanie Medwenitsch, as a “client appreciation representative.”
Pro Management and/or DRS installed windows, replaced a deck, moved a gazebo and installed river stone at Medwenitsch’s cottage, the claim says, all at either below or no cost. Work was also done at the home of an employee of Medwenitsch’s and at Marshall’s home.
The detailed claim also describes how bids were manipulated and the hospital’s tendering policy was circumvented, as well as how contracts were padded. In addition, the claim says, Medwenitsch made sure G.A.L. Power was used as the sole source for the hospital’s generators and they were sold at inflated prices.
One contractor told the Citizen the generator his firm was told to purchase for work at the hospital came from G.A.L. power and was several times more expensive than one he could have gotten elsewhere.
The claim also alleges that DRS was paid half a million in invoices in January 2015 for work that there was no record of and “nobody recalls ever happening.”
G.A.L. Power, which the lawsuit alleges was the soul source for overpriced generators used by the hospital, includes a quote from Medwenitsch on its website: “G.A.L. Power is now a corporate and preferred vendor given their superior product line, knowledgeable and reliable staff and a continued commitment to overall service excellence.”
Medwenitsch earned $134,373.84 in 2014, while Marshall earned $136,526.95.
– With files from Joanne Laucius and Andrew Seymour
查看原文...
The 29-page statement of claim, which has not been tested in court, outlines an alleged conspiracy that included bid rigging and manipulation, as well as inflated prices paid to contractors for goods and services in exchange for kickbacks that occurred over years. The alleged payments included work on the homes and cottages of two hospital employees, jobs for their children, luxury trips, including one to a British Columbia fishing resort ending with a trip to California wine country in 2015, and more. The claim also alleges a second employee was coerced into approving improper invoices for half a million dollars of work that “nobody ever recalls happening.”
The hospital laid off hundreds of employees during the same period as hospital budgets across the province were squeezed.
The hospital has passed its file, the result of a third-party audit, to Ottawa police.
Frank Medwenitsch, the former head of the hospital’s facilities and planning department, resigned in October after he was confronted with some of the allegations. Among other charges against him, the hospital claims he arranged to have his daughters hired by two contractors alleged to have been involved in the scheme, but then paid at least one of them through the hospital, the document alleges. Medwenitsch worked for The Ottawa Hospital for 25 years. He admitted to some of the allegations in a September meeting with hospital officials.
In addition to Medwenitsch, who it claims oversaw the scheme, the suit names Brock Marshall, who most recently was director of engineering and operations in the hospital’s planning department. He worked at the hospital from 1989 until his retirement in early 2015. Neither he nor Medwenitsch were available for comment.
The suit also names companies and individuals the hospital alleges were co-conspirators in the fraud, they include: Gerard Dubé of D.R.S. Construction; Larry St. Pierre of Federal Electric Limited; Guy Adrian LaPierre of G.A.L. Power Systems Ottawa Ltd.; Roch St.-Louis of Pro Management Construction Inc.; and Ottawa Diamond Construction Inc. All of the companies have done work on Ottawa Hospital construction and renovation projects.
The statement of claim does not name a dollar figure for damages in what could be a multi-million dollar alleged scheme, but is asking Ontario Superior Court for an “injunction restraining the defendants from disposing of any of their assets.” It is also seeking $250,000 in punitive damages.
Dubé of DRS Construction said the allegations in the hospital’s statement of claim are not true. He said he never took Medwenitsch on a fishing trip, and had “absolutely nothing” to do with the repairs to Medwenitsch’s home or cottage.
Dubé said he has worked for the hospital for 33 years, often doing $3-million worth of jobs a year, which typically added up to 250 jobs from small moving and painting projects to $350,000 renovations. He said he hasn’t worked for the hospital since July 2015, but the hospital still owes him $1.4 million. Dubé added that he has receipts and emails to prove he did the work and proper procedures were followed.
“They all have a protocol to follow. We all follow the protocol,” he said.
Among the allegations in the statement of claim is an allegation that the bidding process was manipulated to ensure that DRS was the low bidder on a fireproofing contract. Dubé acknowledges that he was the lowest bidder, but says his price was $60,000 lower than the second-lowest bid. If he had known there was such a gap, Dubé said he would have have increased his own bid.
Larry St. Pierre, head of Federal Electric, said he was still reading the document containing the allegations when contacted by the Citizen. “I am surprised to see all of it,” he said. When asked if it was true he said “not all of it,” and then declined to comment further until he had finished reading it. Federal Electric is currently working on the $140 million expansion of the Ottawa Heart Institute.
The document alleges that Federal Electric employed Medwenitsch’s daughter, Katrina Haucke, as an accounting and administrative assistant between 2014 and 2015.
“Federal Electric then benefitted from inflated hospital purchase orders to partially cover the costs of employing Medwenitsch’s daughter,” the document claims. Medwenitsch spelled it out in a text message to Federal Electric, according to the civil suit, written on Aug. 19, 2014.”$1,280 of the $6,300 picks up Katrina — the remainder goes to the project,” Medwenitsch texted, according to the suit.
The hospital’s facilities and planning department is responsible for capital projects and renovations at the hospital, which have been massive over the past 15 years— worth more than $200 million.
Members of the city’s construction community say they have long questioned why work at The Ottawa Hospital seemed to be a “closed shop” and the majority of contractors could not even get in to bid for jobs. Doug Burnside, president of Donlyn Developments and former president of the General Contractors Association of Ottawa, said his family recently made a $1-million donation to the Royal Ottawa Hospital. It specifically chose not to donate to The Ottawa Hospital, he said, “because of their questionable practices.”
Another contractor said simply, “It’s about time,” in response to the hospital’s investigation.
In September, after being confronted with some of the claims, Medwenitsch retained counsel and met with hospital officials. During that meeting he “admitted that costs were misallocated between hospital projects and that he instructed some of the vendors to misallocate costs to other accounts, regardless of which projects actually incurred the costs.”
The statement alleges Medwenitsch gave the vendors procurement advantages at the hospital, including advance and draft copies of procurement documents, information about bids by competitors and internal hospital communications. The vendors also had “significant influence” over tenders at the hospital, including limiting competition by nominating their preferred competitors and excluding viable bids.
Medwenitsch and Marshall, the suit alleges, approved invoices for work that was either not done or incomplete and approved inflated invoices. “The hospital suffered losses resulting from inflated pricing caused by uncompetitive pricing, improper supervision of overhead and profit charges and subsequent change orders that were not subject to adequate checks and balances.”
In return for the improper and inflated invoices, Medwenitsch and Marshall, to some extent, were provided with “hospitality gifts, trips and payments, none of which were disclosed to or approved by the hospital.”
Among alleged kickbacks were multiple fishing trips including one to the Fairmont Kenauk Resort in Montebello, Que. for Medwenitsch “and various project managers from his department,” that G.A.L. Power and/ or Lapierre helped pay for. In July of last year, Medwenitsch and a manager from his department went on a “lavish fishing trip” paid for, or partially paid for, by Federal Electric and G.A.L. Power. The trip included flights to Vancouver, a luxury hotel stay in Vancouver, fishing and a trip to the Napa Valley, which their spouses attended.
Mewenitsch acknowledged to hospital officials that he went on fishing trips in 2013, 2014 and 2015, some of them free. He also acknowledged hospital suppliers had done work on his cottage and his home.
Not only did Federal Electric employ Medwenitsch’s daughter Haucke, but G.A.L. Power employed his other daughter, Stephanie Medwenitsch, as a “client appreciation representative.”
Pro Management and/or DRS installed windows, replaced a deck, moved a gazebo and installed river stone at Medwenitsch’s cottage, the claim says, all at either below or no cost. Work was also done at the home of an employee of Medwenitsch’s and at Marshall’s home.
The detailed claim also describes how bids were manipulated and the hospital’s tendering policy was circumvented, as well as how contracts were padded. In addition, the claim says, Medwenitsch made sure G.A.L. Power was used as the sole source for the hospital’s generators and they were sold at inflated prices.
One contractor told the Citizen the generator his firm was told to purchase for work at the hospital came from G.A.L. power and was several times more expensive than one he could have gotten elsewhere.
The claim also alleges that DRS was paid half a million in invoices in January 2015 for work that there was no record of and “nobody recalls ever happening.”
G.A.L. Power, which the lawsuit alleges was the soul source for overpriced generators used by the hospital, includes a quote from Medwenitsch on its website: “G.A.L. Power is now a corporate and preferred vendor given their superior product line, knowledgeable and reliable staff and a continued commitment to overall service excellence.”
Medwenitsch earned $134,373.84 in 2014, while Marshall earned $136,526.95.
– With files from Joanne Laucius and Andrew Seymour
查看原文...
