Danielle Smith's Gov Gave Over $70M in No-Bid Contracts to Justice Minister’s Relative

Albertans are petitioning Premier Danielle Smith’s government to audit their municipalities over concerns of corruption and a serious lack of transparency. But how can the province investigate corruption at the municipal level when it is itself under investigation for serious allegations of corruption?

In a lawsuit, former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos alleges that Premier Smith’s chief of staff, Marshall Smith, pressured her to favor companies tied to Sam Mraiche — a relative of Justice Minister Mickey Amery. Marshall Smith denies the claims as defamatory, but records show he lived in a $1.6-million home owned by Mraiche’s sister.

The RCMP has launched an investigation following the lawsuit filed by the former AHS CEO.

In 2022, during a medication shortage, the Smith government announced it had secured 5 million units of children’s pain medication from Turkish pharmaceutical company Atabay. But that wasn’t the full story. Behind the scenes, a middleman — Edmonton-based MHCare Medical owned by Sam Mraiche — was awarded a $70 million sole-sourced contract, paid upfront, to import the medication. Firms associated with Sam Mraiche have reportedly received approximately $614 million in contracts from the Alberta government, including a $228 million sole-sourced PPE contract awarded under Premier Jason Kenney’s government.

What kind of an example does this set for municipalities?