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Ornge took out two life insurance policies on disgraced CEO: Ornge

By: The Canadian Press

Thursday, Mar. 7, 2013 at 2:20 PM | Comments: 0

TORONTO - Ornge says there were two life insurance policies taken out on disgraced former CEO Chris Mazza.

The publicly funded air ambulance service says former executives at Ornge obtained $10-million in life insurance coverage for Mazza in 2010, which was meant to cover him as key personnel.

Ornge spokesman James MacDonald said there was also a long-term life insurance policy providing $1.5 million in coverage for Mazza that was taken out in 2005.

He says Ornge paid about $28,000 for the $10-million policy and $10,325 for the $1.5-million policy, both of which are no longer in effect.

MacDonald says the beneficiaries of both policies were Ornge entities and not Mazza or his estate.

Documents tabled with a legislative committee that's looking into misspending at Ornge showed that Mazza received $1.2 million in loans in a single year, in addition to his high salary.

Ornge released the information a day after the Progressive Conservatives questioned the $10-million policy, saying the money put aside to pay the annual premiums might be recovered.

Conservative Frank Klees said the policy was under the control of one of Ornge's for-profit companies, along with $450,000 meant to pay the premiums.

If the money is still there, the government should go after it, he said.

Health Minister Deb Matthews has said she's asked Ornge to do whatever they can to recover any "inappropriate expenditures," but she's not sure if the insurance policy qualified as inappropriate.

Auditor general Jim McCarter found that Ornge received $730 million from the Health Ministry over five years — and borrowed $300 million more — with virtually no government oversight.

Ornge is currently under a criminal probe for financial irregularities.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version had the incorrect first name of Ornge spokesman James MacDonald.

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