Former health exec Merali denies living ‘high life’ on taxpayer tab
Former Capital Health executive Allaudin Merali says “every dollar of expenses” for which he was repaid covered spending that benefited the health authority.
“The imputation that I simply lived a high life at the taxpayer’s expense is an invention of sheer malice,” Merali wrote in a statement sent Friday to media.
“I was a senior host and negotiator of numerous partnerships, business deals and relationships of a $3-billion organization. I hosted appropriately, not for my own personal enjoyment.”
The former executive vicepresident and chief financial officer for the Capital Health Authority was responding to an external audit released this week that found he was reimbursed $368,750 over about 31/2 years for an assortment of meals, travel and other items between 2005 and 2008.
It is the first time Merali has responded publicly to criticism about his expense claims.
The provincially ordered audit by Ernst & Young was released Thursday and examined $361,600 of Merali’s expenses. The audit identified $5,613 — or about 1.5 per cent of the total — as non-compliant with Capital Health’s policy at the time.
The audit categorized about 50 per cent of Merali’s expenses as compliant. There was no policy available to sort out whether 17.5 per cent of Merali’s expense claims were allowed, another 2.5 per cent could not be categorized as compliant or non-compliant, and 28.5 per cent were permitted under policy but the supporting documents required were missing, the audit said.
Merali insisted his expenses were all legitimate and any personal expenses were immediately paid back to Capital Health in accordance with policies in place at the time.
“The auditors reviewed hundreds of expense line items where my scrupulous adherence to accountability to my employer has been shown,” Merali wrote in the statement. “There are instances where the auditors have not located all expense records and written policies, but it is clear that there was no attempt on my part to gain personal benefit for myself, my wife, or anyone else with whom I was associated. If there were any oversights in documentation, such oversights are inconsequential in amount.”
Merali’s expense account became public in August and prompted Merali to step down from the new job he had held for three months with Alberta Health Services.
Merali’s former boss, Sheila Weatherill, who signed off on many of his expenses, also resigned from her post on the AHS board.
Merali had been hired in May as chief financial officer with AHS even though the board knew he had racked up controversial expenses working as a consultant for eHealth Ontario. There, he charged for numerous expenses even though he was being paid $2,750 each day plus $75 per diem, and had his rent and flights covered.
Documents released in the summer showed Merali submitted expense claims to Capital Health for a range of pricey meals at high-end restaurants such as Normand’s, the Red Ox Inn, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, La Spiga and Hardware Grill.
Auditors noted in their recent report that Capital Health policies in place at the time allowed for a wide range of hospitality expenses and didn’t require pre-approval or set limits on per-person amounts or the types of expenses that could be incurred.
Standards for expense claims with AHS have since been tightened, Merali wrote, “and I was fully committed to abiding by those standards when I was hired as chief financial officer of AHS.”