Sam Mraiche owns MHCare Medical Corp., a medical-supply business that has become the focus of several probes.PAUL SWANSON
Elections Alberta investigated Sam Mraiche, the Edmonton businessman embroiled in Alberta’s health care procurement controversy, earlier this year over allegations he made illegal political contributions to the province’s United Conservative Party and New Democratic Party, court records show.
The authority disclosed its investigation into Mr. Mraiche this summer when it asked a provincial court to find him in contempt for failing to participate in an interview. The existence of the probe has not previously been reported. Mr. Mraiche’s lawyer said his client has since sat for an interview. Elections Alberta withdrew its contempt application in September.
The elections regulator’s director of compliance and enforcement said in an affidavit that Mr. Mraiche was being investigated in connection with an alleged straw donor scheme – an illegal practice in which an individual circumvents donation limits by providing money through others.
“Mr. Mraiche is alleged to have given funds to other people for the purpose of having those people make contributions to a registered party,” Diane Brauer, the official, said. The alleged donations were made in the two months prior to the May, 2023, provincial election, according to her affidavit, which was filed in support of the contempt request.
A lawyer for Mr. Mraiche denied that his client improperly provided funds to others for the purpose of political donations in a letter sent to Elections Alberta in May, the court filings show.
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Elections Alberta did not comment on the status of the probe. Robyn Bell, a spokesperson for the authority, said it is prohibited by law from doing so. The court documents do not indicate what became of the investigation.
Scott Hutchison, a lawyer for Mr. Mraiche, also did not address The Globe’s questions about the status of the probe, but explained why his client was reluctant to speak with investigators. “Initially, we had some reservations with respect to the fairness of the process,” Mr. Hutchison said. “Those concerns were addressed, and our client sat for an interview.”
Mr. Mraiche owns MHCare Medical Corp., a medical-supply business that has been awarded more than $600-million in business by Alberta Health Services since 2020, according to documents prepared by the agency. MHCare’s business with the health authority, including its deal to import $70-million worth of children’s medication from Turkey in 2022, has become the focus of several probes.
In an investigation published on Saturday, The Globe detailed Mr. Mraiche’s connections to the governing United Conservative Party. The Globe found, for instance, that Mr. Mraiche joined Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s inner circle in a hotel suite to watch the provincial election results in May, 2023, and that she and at least seven ministers attended Edmonton Oilers games with the executive.
Mr. Mraiche says he acted appropriately and properly, and denies any wrongdoing.
The court filings contain several details about Elections Alberta’s investigation.
The authority launched the probe in April, 2024, after it received an anonymous tip about donations made in March and April, 2023. The investigation initially focused on contributions to the UCP but by March, 2025, had expanded to look at those made to the NDP.
Heather Wilson, the executive director of the province’s New Democratic Party, said in a statement that the party received a request from Elections Alberta earlier this spring for information “regarding individual donations.” The party provided that information, she said.
Ms. Wilson added that the party does not know whether that request was connected to the investigation, and that the NDP has not heard anything further from Elections Alberta since the request. She said the party’s policy in the “very rare case of an improper donation” is to return the funds.
In an e-mailed statement, Dave Prisco, a UCP spokesperson, said the party “strictly follows all Alberta election finance rules,” and that it had not been contacted or notified about the investigation.
Elections Alberta investigators began reaching out to Mr. Mraiche in January, 2025, according to Ms. Brauer’s affidavit. Over the next three months, the authority says it tried multiple times to schedule an interview, and in June issued a formal summons. Lawyers for Mr. Mraiche requested that the interview be postponed, did not respond to follow-up correspondence attempting to schedule a new date and in July informed the regulator that their client would not appear for an interview, Ms. Brauer said. About a week later, the authority asked the court to find Mr. Mraiche in contempt.
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Elections Alberta’s court filing also includes correspondence between Mr. Mraiche’s lawyers and Elections Alberta and its legal counsel. In a letter dated May 23 and addressed to an Elections Alberta investigator, Mr. Hutchison told the authority it was welcome to scrutinize his client’s bank records.
“You have the ability to examine those records,” Mr. Hutchison said. “I trust you have done so and I am confident that your review has not uncovered anything to substantiate any of the allegations against Mr. Mraiche.”
Mr. Hutchison also objected to what he called “aggressive – indeed illegal – tactics” employed by Elections Alberta during its investigation. Investigators, he alleged, suggested to witnesses that they were “in some way guilty of wrongdoing” for wanting to attend interviews with their lawyers, and “surreptitiously recorded interactions with individuals when attending their homes to gather information from them.”
“We are left with serious doubts about whether your investigation has been fair and reasonable, or is animated by other motives,” Mr. Hutchison said.
Joseph Redman, a lawyer for Elections Alberta, responded two weeks later.
“Your suggestion that the motives underpinning this investigation are improper is a personal attack on an appointee of a non-partisan legislative officer fulfilling their statutory duty,” he said. “Such attacks are not conducive to moving this matter forward to completion.”
In response to questions about Mr. Hutchison’s allegations, Ms. Bell, the Elections Alberta spokesperson, said the regulator’s investigative practices “have been reviewed and scrutinized by the Courts, on multiple occasions.”
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In his letter to Mr. Hutchison, Mr. Redman also attached a list of six questions the elections authority sought to put to Mr. Mraiche.
The questions asked whether Mr. Mraiche or businesses he was associated with had provided funds to others so that they could make political contributions. Mr. Redman’s final question listed 60 people and asked whether Mr. Mraiche had provided any of them with funds for political contributions.
The Globe’s analysis of Elections Alberta contribution records found that 59 individuals with names matching those on the list made donations in 2023. Each of them donated the then-yearly maximum of $4,300, totalling $253,700. The United Conservative Party received $103,200, and the NDP received $150,500.
The Globe reached out to some individuals whose names matched those on the list. None responded to a request for comment.
Six people whose names are listed – Ali Haymour, Houssam Ismail, Kamal Mansour, Khawla Al-Tamimi, Majida Kiki and Salim Kherbatly – were found in contempt by an Alberta court on July 22 after Elections Alberta said they had not made themselves available for an interview related to an investigation.
George Samia, a lawyer for the six individuals, told The Globe his clients declined to comment for this story.
The decision in that contempt case notes that Elections Alberta’s investigation concerned straw donors, and that it had launched its probe on April 30, 2024 – the same day Elections Alberta says it began its investigation into Mr. Mraiche.
According to Elections Alberta’s political finance database, Mr. Mraiche’s last donation in the province was in 2020, to the New Democratic Party.
With a report from Stephanie Chambers