Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh and Inspector Pete Christos speak with reporters Tuesday as the Lethbridge Police Service has concluded their investigation regarding ARCHES.--LETHBRIDGE Herald photo Ian Martens
The Lethbridge Police Service will not be laying charges against ARCHES after its forensic investigation of the former supervised consumption site accounted for $1.5 million in provincial funding dollars previously unaccounted for in the July audit of the organization.
Chief of Police Shahin Mehdizadeh told reporters on Tuesday with the money now accounted for there was no basis to lay charges at this time.
“The Alberta Specialized Prosecution Branch supported the findings of the Lethbridge police investigation,” Mehdizadeh read out in a prepared statement, “and determined it would not recommend criminal charges as there wasn’t a likelihood of conviction, and prosecution would not be in the public interest.”
Mehdizadeh said the decision not to lay criminal charges comes after a “lengthy” and “comprehensive” investigation.
“The Lethbridge Police Service was able to uncover the records which account for funding in question,” he continued. “The findings have been shared with the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, which concludes the involvement of the Lethbridge Police Service in the matter.”
Acting Inspector Pete Christos of the LPS Criminal Investigation Division added a few more details to Mehdizadeh’s statement.
Christos said the LPS investigation was able to access financial records which were not available to auditors at the time when they initially raised concerns about the $1.5 million in missing funds.
“It was initially thought there was an inappropriate use of funds which were misallocated,” he said, “but through our investigation we found that, in fact, those funds were located.”
ARCHES had the money in different accounts the auditor’s did not have access to in their investigation, Christos later clarified, but once staff of the former supervised consumption site sat down with LPS investigators they were able to fully account for the provincial money.
“These were official ARCHES accounts,” he explained, but did not want to comment when asked by reporters about the alleged disorganized accounting processes identified by the auditors at the former SCS.
“I don’t feel it is my position to comment on their practices,” he stated. “However; through our investigation, I can tell you all money has been accounted for.”
In comments to the media later in the day Premier Jason Kenney was asked if his government would now reconsider its previous decision to defund the ARCHES Supervised Consumption Site given the organization had not misappropriated provincial funds as previously alleged.
“The threshold for what we spend tax dollars on is a lot different than the threshold of a potential successful criminal conviction,” Kenney said. “I will refer you back to the audit that was done as well as the comments emanating from the Lethbridge community about the huge damage done to the local community about the huge damage done to the local community by the presence of that centre.
“The very many serious questions raised about its operations, its salaries, its expenses that came out of the audit and other leaked documents that emanated from the centre itself. We have a responsibility to ensure the highest possible level of probity in the way tax dollars are spent; so no, we have no intention (to reconsider). We think the management lost public confidence, and certainly the confidence of government, in the way it managed.”
