Lawyers find no misconduct among Broward Health board
A review by outside lawyers hired by the Broward Health board found no misconduct by the board or the organization’s general counsel in thewake of accusations and inquiries that arose after the January suicide of the public hospital district’s chief executive officer.
The board had hired the Berger Singerman law firm of Fort Lauderdale to serve as a liaison with the Florida Chief Inspector General’s Office, which has requested a massive number of documents on Broward Health’s contracts, personnel and operations. The firm was also asked to sort out statements made by a private investigator who had accused Broward Health general counsel Lynn Barrett of obstructing a corruption investigation by himself and the FBI.
Mitchell Berger, co-chair of the firm, told the board Wednesday that his review had found no improper interference by board members into the awarding of several contracts currently being reviewed by the state inspector general’s office. His firm’s written report said it found “no factual or legal basis” for the accusations of obstruction of justice made against Barrett.
Thereview involved contracts with Zimmerman Advertising, G4SSecure Solutions (USA), the cardiology group headed by Dr. Zachariah Zachariah, Med Assets, Abeline and Salsa Technologies, as well as other matters.
Berger said the firm’s report was not comprehensive because the lawyers were unable to speak with some of the significant people involved in the contracts, and the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to his inquiries. And his review focused on actions by the board, because that is what is within the purview of the inspector general’s office, not the staff’swork or anyone else’s.
His review found, for example, that the lateCEO, Dr. Nabil El Sanadi, acted outside the established practices in pursuing contracts in which he was interested, and that County Commissioner Chip LaMarca played a major role in the contract with Zimmerman, which had hired him last summer. But he said there was no evidence of improper board interference in awarding contracts.
“I don’t have any reason to believe that this board is implicated in interfering with the way that the staff responds to you,” he said.
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