Jewish General Hospital says it notified anti-corruption unit

Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital says it notified the anti-corruption unit of Quebec’s provincial police when it learned of allegations facing two senior managers.

The hospital was responding to a Radio-Canada report yesterday into the recent resignations of two senior managers.

The report revealed receipts for $50,000 that had been submitted for work on two rooms in the hospital’s newly inaugurated ER unit that were never built.

Radio-Canada alleges the fake invoices were issued at the request of the hospital’s director of real estate, Philippe Castiel.

Castiel has since resigned.

In a news release, the hospital says the invoices had already been identified during an internal investigation and the amounts in question were paid back in full.

The Radio-Canada report also interviewed a worker with a number of companies including R.A.Rénov-action, which was doing maintenance at the hospital, who said Kotiel Berdugo, the hospital’s director of technical services, asked him to do some painting on the side for him.

“He liked my work so much that he requested I do some painting for his parents,” Roberto Astorga told Radio-Canada.

“We were supposed to fill in our invoice as if we were working at the hospital,” Astorga says.

Berdugo, however, says the Jewish General Hospital did not pay for the work.

No bill exists for the work because it was paid in cash.

Berdugo has since resigned his post.

The Jewish General Hospital undertook an internal investigation into the claims.

The hospital also says it notified all appropriate authorities, including the provincial police’s anti-corruption unit, whose investigation at the hospital is ongoing.

“It is part of the JGH culture to be open and forthcoming, and the hospital is cooperating fully with authorities,” Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, the hospital’s executive director, says in the news release.

“Anyone who has acted improperly will be held fully accountable,” he added.