A judge granted Alberta to the government of Alberta his request to question the former head of the provincial health authority on confidential emails that she is accused of keeping and sharing without authorization, including the media.
The government’s request was made last month when she filed an injunction in the large -scale trial launched by Athana Mentzellopoulosthe former managing director of Alberta Health Services.
Mentzellopoulos continues the government and Ahs for an unjustified dismissal, alleging that it had been illegally dismissed in January to prevent it from investigating romantic agreements and political interference in health supply contracts of several million dollars.
The province and the AHS denied this complaint and any reprehensible act, asserting rather than Mentzellopoulos was dismissed for poor performance at work and to block the mandated health reform.
The allegations on all sides have not yet been tested in court.
The application for the injunction of last month intervened after the officials of the health authority discovered that Mentzellopoulos transmitted nearly a dozen emails containing confidential information related to the allegations it made at a personal email address the day before its dismissal.
The province requests an order from the court to return the emails, ask Mentzellopoulos to disclose with whom it shared the information and prevent it from using the emails as proof in court.
A written decision of the judge of the bench of the tribunal of King Debra Yungwirth last week indicates that government lawyers can question Mentzelopoulos on email.
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However, they will not be allowed to ask what she has already shared with the Auditor General of Alberta or the RCMP as part of their separate surveys on allegations.
Yungwirth wrote that exemptions should “protect integrity” from the two surveys.
“This management establishes a balance between providing (government and AHS) with information they need to ensure that any privileged and confidential information is protected without interfering with the current work of the general auditor or the GRC or other police forces,” wrote Yungwirth.
According to the decision, the lawyer for Mentzellopoulos immersed himself against the request to question his client, claiming that this would be equivalent to a “fishing expedition” as a government and AHS “simply wanted to determine the information it could have provided to the listener general of Alberta and the RCMP”.
AHS and government lawyers have argued, according to the decision, that questioning “is the only way to determine what documents that Mme Mentzellopoulos may have drawn from the AHS and what she did with these documents.”
Yungwirth’s decision also notes that only two of the emails in question could be protected by the Privilege of Solicitor-Client, and lawyers for both parties do not agree that the privilege applies.
The deposit last month contained almost entirely expounded copies of emails. Only object lines and sender or recipients – largely limited to government bureaucrats and AHS officials – have been disclosed.
The object lines indicate information on private surgical installations and requests for freedom of information related to a private medical supplier at the heart of allegations of political interference and conflicts of interests of mentzelopoulos.
Yungwirth’s decision indicates that the question of the privilege of solicitor-client could not be immediately discussed because the lawyer for mentzelopoulos had not read the emails.
According to Yungwirth’s decision, the government, the government, supports, whatever the privilege, emails contain confidential information that Mentzellopoulos should not have in its possession “on the basis that damages can be caused to Alberta health services and the province”.
As part of its file last month, the government and the AHS also filed modified defense statements that the State keeping emails, Mentzelopoulos violated its employment agreement, giving Ahs just to dismiss it “after” it was dismissed.
Yungwirth’s decision indicates that a decision will be made to find out if emails should be returned and if the province’s injunction is granted in whole after Mentzellopoulos has been questioned.
Dan Scott, lawyer for mentzelopoulos, said in an email that a questioning date had not been confirmed.
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