The ongoing RCMP investigation into procurement processes and practices at Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services involves an investigation into alleged fraud, breach of trust, and money laundering, according to a letter filed in court earlier this month.
RCMP have been investigating a complaint of contracting practices at AHS since February 2025.
The investigation was one of several launched following allegations levied by former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos, who alleged in a 2025 lawsuit that she was fired after she launched an investigation into various contracts and AHS procurement processes.
AHS has said it terminated Mentzelopoulos because she wasn’t fulfilling her duties.
None of the allegations have been tested in court.
Earlier this year, the RCMP executed “multiple search warrants” related to its investigation. But at the time, RCMP would only say the investigation was ongoing, declining to provide further detail.
The letter, dated Oct. 15 and sent to lawyers for Mentzelopoulos, the government and AHS, sheds light on the scope of that investigation. It was first reported by the Globe and Mail on Tuesday.
It states that the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General is responsible for support and prosecution of any charges that may arise from the ongoing RCMP criminal investigation “into fraud, breach of trust, and money laundering.”
“During that investigation, the RCMP seized various documents and materials that were provided to it by Athana Mentzelopoulos following her termination as [CEO] of AHS,” reads the letter, signed by Crown counsel Tom Andreopoulos.
Those materials, Andreopoulos wrote, “may overlap” with documents at the centre of ongoing civil litigation.
Overlapping records
Last month, a judge ruled as part of what was a months-long back-and-forth over a series of documents tied to Mentzelopoulos’s lawsuit.
Justice Michael Lema ruled that a series of records, kept by Mentzelopoulos after her firing, were privileged or confidential.
While Mentzelopoulos’s lawyers had argued she had retained those records to act as a “whistleblower” in order to reveal her concerns about government procurement, lawyers for the government and AHS argued she was contractually obligated to return them after her termination. The judge agreed with the latter argument.
“When it comes to what that all means in terms of whether Ms. Mentzelopoulos can have, keep, use those documents, the bottom-line conclusion is she cannot,” Lema said in court on Sept. 23.
Athana Mentzelopoulos, former CEO of Alberta Health Services, is suing the provincial government and AHS for wrongful dismissal. She is seen outside the law courts in Edmonton on April 29. (Lisa Johnson/The Canadian Press)
In his letter, Andreopoulos expressed concerns over whether the materials involved in the RCMP investigation overlapped with what was deemed to be privileged in the civil litigation.
Further, he wrote that the process tied to what the RCMP seized as part of its search warrant involved the appointment of an independent referee.
For that reason, Andreopoulos wrote the team was “seeking direction” from the Court of King’s Bench about co-ordinating further moves.
“We will be doing so by way of seeking the appointment of a case management judge to provide direction as to next steps moving forward to achieve that co-ordination,” he wrote.
Sharon Roberts, a lawyer for Mentzelopoulos, declined to comment. But in her letter filed in court, she argued that Mentzelopoulos’s intentions behind keeping the records were well-founded, as demonstrated by the content of the letter.
Lawyers for AHS and the government didn’t respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General did not respond to a request for comment.
Christina Zoernig, a spokesperson for the RCMP, declined to provide further comment.
Earlier this month, Lema also ruled that Alberta Health Services and the province must produce records to fill “certain gaps and deficiencies” tied to Mentzelopoulos’s lawsuit.
Opposition calls for public inquiry
Speaking in the Alberta Legislature on Tuesday about the latest developments, Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi called for a public inquiry into the matter.
“The net is tightening around this premier and her government. The only way to clear the air is a public inquiry. Will she finally call one?” Nenshi said.
In response, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pointed to a report from former Manitoba judge Raymond Wyant, released late last year. That report delivered 18 recommendations, all of which the premier said would be implemented by the end of the year.
“That’s what people want to see. That we have identified issues that were problematic in the AHS procurement process, and we’re fixing them,” Smith said.
Justice Minister Mickey Amery said the government would fully cooperate with the ongoing RCMP investigation during an unrelated press conference held on Tuesday. (CBC)
During an unrelated press conference Tuesday, Justice Minister Mickey Amery said the government would fully cooperate with the RCMP.
He was asked by a reporter whether the government would challenge the disclosure of privileged and confidential documents to the RCMP, as it had in the civil case.
“We argued that certain privileged and confidential documents should remain privileged and confidential, which is a legal right of every party involved in a civil action,” he said.
“We don’t know what those documents are that the RCMP are relying on, nor can I speculate about that, because we haven’t been made aware of what those documents are that they’re going to seek to rely on.
“If and when that issue arises, then we’ll have an answer for you.”
