London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has filed a civil lawsuit against former employees, claiming they defrauded the facility of tens of millions of dollars over the past 10 years.
The hospital claims the defendants engaged in fraudulent procurement practices and construction contracting practices between 2013 and 2024. It’s accused the former employees of awarding contracts with inflated pricing to companies that were run by the LHSC’s then-vice president of facilities management, Patel.
“The Fraudulent Scheme was a calculated, multi-year campaign of deceit and theft, deliberately engineered to misappropriate public funds for personal and unlawful gain,” the lawsuit states.
A second lawsuit filed by LHSC alleges several other employees covered up the scam. That lawsuit is seeking $10 million in damages.
LHSC accuses the defendants in the first filing of failure to declare conflicts of interest in procurement matters, circumventing procurement safeguards, and submitting fraudulent documents that included inflated invoices for work that was not performed.
An investigation that was launched in 2024 by London Police Service uncovered the scheme, the organization says. The LHSC also said it had a third party conduct a forensic audit.
It says that Patel headed up the scheme with other employees to have contracts awarded to Paresh Soni, who was a close friend of the three executives, and involved in several companies that were awarded contracts by LHSC.
The filing says that they did this by working together to “circumvent procurement protocols, falsify documents, make off-record payments for no legitimate reason, inflate invoices, charge for work that was not performed, and create fictitious personas to conceal the true identities of the individuals behind the Fraudulent Scheme.”
It says that since 2015, LHSC awarded contracts to one of the companies, BH Contractors, for a total of nearly $30 million, with $21 million being awarded for a window replacement project at the University Hospital. That project exceeded the initial bid by the company by about $10 million, according to the court filing.
In another instance, LHSC said a different company, GBI Construction, submitted an invoice for more than $300,000 for a reporting system that did not exist.
Between 2013 and 2024, GBI received more than $11 million from LHSC for “facilities management services,” the filing said.
The hospital has alleged falsified documents and aliases were used for fraud, including an instance in 2022 where an application was signed by a Paul Smith, which it said was an alias used by Soni and others at BH as part of the scheme.
Suspicious Real Estate
LHSC’s filing also notes there was some suspicious real estate activity happening that it alleges could be connected to the fraudulent scheme.It notes that Patel has owned 22 properties since 1998, and 17 of those were purchased after BP was awarded the $21 million window project contract.
Soni has owned 43 properties since 2011, according to the filing, and 42 of those were purchased since 2017, after GBI Construction was awarded a multi-year contract with LHSC for facility maintenance services.
The hospital says it fired Patel in August 2024 without cause, saying he would receive 12 months of severance pay. However, LHSC said it stopped paying in February 2025 following the investigation.
Lall was terminated in 2023 and was advised this spring that his termination was being treated as “being for after-acquired cause” due to his involvement in the alleged scheme. Modi was fired in February 2025 for “basis of gross and wilful misconduct” for his involvement.
LHSC said it ended its facilities management contract with GBI in September 2024 and its agreement with BH Contractors in June.
Lawsuit for Coverup
The hospital filed a second lawsuit against three former employees and a consulting firm for $10 million, alleging they concealed evidence or ignored evidence that cost the hospital tens of millions.The filing named Dr. Jackie Schleifer Taylor (previous president and CEO), Bradley Campbell (previous corporate hospital administrative executive), Abhi Mukherjee (previous corporate services executive/CFO), and consultancy firm Corpus Sanchez International Consultancy Inc., accusing them of breach of fiduciary duties.
The hospital noted that fraudulent behaviours in procurement and construction contracts had been brought to the attention of Taylor, Campbell, and Mukherjee, but they “failed to take action” and did not inform LHSC’s internal auditor, external auditors, or board of directors.
The filing alleges that Taylor and Mukherjee signed annual representations saying there were no known issues of fraud at LHSC, which breached professional and legal standards.
LHSC also noted that those mentioned in the lawsuit permitted those allegedly involved in the fraud scheme to participate in an internal audit that included no mention of the alleged fraudulent activities.
David Musyj, supervisor of LHSC, said the hospital has strengthened its oversight, governance, operations, policies, procedures, and financial practices through an organization review and executive restructuring.
“We have provided these findings to London Police Service as they continue their investigation,” Musyj said in a letter posted to the LHSC website.
It noted that other staff involved in the alleged scheme were no longer employed at the hospital.
