Apparently THEY do investigate public officials…” RCMP alleges breach of trust by B.C. official”

Found this little gem on MSN, sourced from CBC.ca: http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=22137840  ( I see now that the Province online is running it as front page as well)

A former B.C. assistant deputy minister of health is under investigation for alleged breach of trust, CBC News has learned.

The RCMP commercial crime squad has been investigating Ron Danderfer, once head of the province’s Department of Vital Statistics, and who was assistant deputy health minister until 2007, according to a search warrant obtained by CBC News.

Investigators have alleged Danderfer accepted a trip to Paris, free stays at a Kelowna condominium, and offers of unspecified post-retirement income from Dr. Jonathan Burns, of Abbotsford.

Burns heads a company called WebMed and is inventor of a high-tech medical device called the Pixelere. The device was designed to allow home-care nurses to scan wounds on patients and then send the images to hospitals for diagnosis.

The device was adopted by the B.C. health-care system, earning Burns’s company $500,000, according to the documents.

Burns also became a paid adviser to then assistant deputy minister Danderfer, meaning Burns was collecting fees from both the government and Provincial Health Services, the RCMP documents say.

The documents also allege that Burns collected hundreds of thousands of dollars, paid out often on Danderfer’s orders, sometimes without invoices and without contracts being put out to tender.

Matter raised in legislature

In the legislature Wednesday, B.C. NDP Health Critic Adrian Dix confronted Health Minister Kevin Falcon with the contents of the RCMP documents.

“At the same time, Dr. Burns was being paid $30,000 a month to advise the minister of health, and the ministry of health, at the same time that he was continuing to charge MSP [Medical Services Plan] as a doctor and at the same time as he served as CEO of WebMed, with contracts with all of the health authorities, the Provincial Health Services Authority gave a contract to Dr. Burns at nearly $200 an hour — $6,000 a week — to be their e-health adviser, presumably to lobby himself,” Dix said.

“I’ve been in this house long enough to hear these kinds of wild allegation by this member over a whole range of issues,” Falcon replied.

“We will get the facts, and I won’t be surprised if, in fact, the facts depart very clearly from what the member’s alleging,” said Falcon.

Third individual named in warrant

The documents contain more allegations involving another health official, James Taylor.

Taylor was hired as manager of Network Services with the Fraser Health Authority after he had been sentenced to two years house arrest for defrauding the White Rock Sea Festival.

In that case, Taylor pleaded guilty to pocketing more than $40,000 while acting as the festival’s volunteer president.

The RCMP investigation into Danderfer and Burns alleges Taylor allowed Burns fraudulently to submit more than $500,000 in invoices in return for a $70,000-a-year job for Taylor’s wife, work for Taylor’s daughter, and free use of a Kelowna condominium, the same one offered up to the former assistant deputy minister Ron Danderfer.

No decision has yet been made on whether or not charges will be laid in connection with the investigation.

Hmmmmm. I guess no one ever told this fellow that it’s rude and impolite to double-dip… As for the other fellow mentioned?

“The documents contain more allegations involving another health official, James Taylor.

Taylor was hired as manager of Network Services with the Fraser Health Authority after he had been sentenced to two years house arrest for defrauding the White Rock Sea Festival.”

Doesn’t anyone do background checks anymore? The guy is so low that he actually defrauded a sea festival, for bloody sakes, and so it makes perfect sense to hire him in any sort of capacity for Fraser Health, especially in a management position.Makes you wonder…