Fraud charges in MUHC case dropped

All charges against St. Clair Armitage in relation to the alleged fraud in the awarding of the contract for the McGill University Health Centre superhospital have been dropped.

Armitage, a British consultant who worked for the MUHC during the bidding competition, was facing charges of fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and breach of trust.

The charges were originally filed in June 2014.

Speaking to the Montreal Gazette on Monday from his home in the United Kingdom, Armitage described the 29 months he spent facing the charges as “a nightmare” and said he had yet to decide whether to take legal action against the authorities that had filed them.

“I now need to try and put my life back together … this has been devastating,” he said.

“I’ve not been able to work since the charges were drawn, I lost my job, I had to sell my home. It’s been devastating in very many different ways. Not just for me but for my family.”

The charges against Armitage were dropped Oct. 3, but were announced Monday after the end of a 30-day appeal period.

Armitage is the second person to see charges against him in the MUHC contract investigation dropped.

On Oct. 24, the Crown dropped all charges against Bahamian businessman Jeremy Morris.

The Crown has already secured the conviction of Pamela Mattock Porter — the wife of the late Arthur Porter — who pleaded guilty in December 2014 to two counts of money laundering for her role in the alleged MUHC plot. The case against five other defendants is continuing in Quebec Court.