Contractor denies issuing bogus invoices

A local contractor who’s being sued by the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region is denying all allegations of billing irregularities for electrical work done at Regina Pioneer Village.

On July 26, a statement of claim was filed at Regina Court of Queen’s Bench against AB Electric Corp. and Adrian Bechard, the company’s sole director and president, “for numerous billing irregularities.”

According to the claim, sometime around March 2017, RQHR became aware of irregularities in bills from AB Electric and began a review of all of the company’s invoices back to January 2011.

The matter was reported to Regina police and a civil litigation claim was launched against the contractor.

According to the statement of claim, the company provided electrical contracting services to RQHR at Pioneer Village from around January 2011 until early 2017.

Over that time period, AB Electric issued approximately 1,611 invoices to RQHR for electrical goods and services supplied at Pioneer Village.

The RQHR alleges it made payments to AB Electric totalling $1,956,651 during that period.

In the statement of claim, the RQHR alleges numerous billing irregularities including multiple invoices being issued for the same work; routinely billing excessive hours for a journeyman and an apprentice electrician to do the same task; billing excessive hours worked for routine electrical tasks; grossly inflating hours worked per employee, per day; issuing invoices for work that was not performed; billing for services performed at Pioneer Village by a subcontractor to AB Electric at an unreasonable markup; and charging RQHR for materials that were actually supplied by RQHR or for materials previously invoiced to and paid for by RQHR.

AB Electric Corp. and Adrian Bechard denied “each and every allegation” in a statement of defence and counterclaim filed Sept. 28 in Regina Court of Queen’s Bench.

According to the statement of defence, AB Electric provided services “in a good and workmanlike fashion and met all express or implied terms and conditions of the contract.”

It continues: “At all material times the plaintiff was aware of AB Electric’s permitting and billing practices.”

The statement of defence noted that Pioneer Village was constructed in or around 1967 and is the largest seniors’ complex in Saskatchewan and “required, and has undergone, extensive electrical repair and updating.”

AB Electric alleges the region has refused to pay for services provided to it from August 2016 to February 2017 and is in breach of the contract.

As part of the region’s investigation, the contractor was cut off from doing further work in the health region and payment was stopped.

At a news conference in July, Keith Dewar, CEO of RQHR at the time, told media that AB Electric was owed approximately $60,000 by the region.

AB Electric is seeking general damages, special damages, interest and costs of the action.

When the region notified the provincial auditor and filed a loss report with the Financial Services Branch of the ministry in July, the loss was anticipated to exceed $100,000.

Now it’s estimated to exceed $200,000 as a result of an ongoing review of all of AB Electric’s invoicing.

The RQHR is improving internal financial controls with measures such as double signing of invoices, said Karen Earnshaw, the region’s vice-president of integrated health services and interim CEO.

The region hired MNP, an accounting firm that provides business advisory services, to review RQHR’s processes.