It now wants the money back. In a letter delivered last week to the Etobicoke home that Mazza recently built and now has listed for sale, ORNGE has demanded immediate repayment.
The two loans and an advance against a bonus are on top of Mazza’s annual $1.4 million salary.
Forensic investigators for the province are paying particular attention to the payments, a source said. All ORNGE documents related to the payments have been turned over to the 43-person investigative team.
ORNGE is Ontario’s air ambulance service. It receives $150 million each year to conduct emergency airlifts and to move patients between hospitals.
An ongoing investigation by the Toronto Star began in December with stories that first described ORNGE secrecy (most executive salaries were shielded from the public). Then the Star revealed Mazza was paid $1.4 million a year (for the year ended March 31, 2011). Information recently obtained by the Star shows that more ORNGE dollars were going Mazza’s way.
A source confirmed the decisions to provide loans and cash advances to Mazza were approved by ORNGE’s board, chaired at the time by Rainer Beltzner.
Beltzner has not been available for interviews on matters related to ORNGE’s finances over the past two months. In a statement when his old ORNGE board resigned in January, he said, “ORNGE has taken immediate steps to begin a renewal process and regain the trust of staff, patients, and the people of Ontario.”
Also involved in the approval process for the Mazza payments was former ORNGE executive Maria Renzella, who has also not responded to interview requests.
Both Renzella and Beltzner were brought into ORNGE by Mazza, former executives say. Renzella received funding from ORNGE for a $110,000 executive MBA, with some of her studies in Europe.
Some of the payments to Mazza relate to a home on Blackdown Cres. in Etobicoke that Mazza purchased for $735,000 on Aug. 5, 2010.
Two weeks before the purchase, on July 20, 2010 the for-profit company ORNGE Peel gave Mazza a $500,000 housing loan. Mazza is the majority shareholder of ORNGE Peel, which later became ORNGE Global.
The term of the loan was five years. Auditors have found no evidence that interest was charged and no evidence that Mazza has made any repayment of interest and principal.
Immediately after the purchase, Mazza applied to the city of Toronto for a building permit to demolish the existing structure down to the foundation. He constructed a beautiful three-bedroom, four-bathroom home. Two weeks ago it went on sale for a price of $1,425,000.
According to the real estate listing, “no words can adequately describe this home.”
“It is absolutely magnificent, and situated on one of Toronto’s most spectacular treed crescents! Completely rebuilt to the foundation, designer finishes throughout with attention to every detail! Caesarstone counters, hickory floors, fabulous wall angles and ceilings all exquisitely in the proper proportions. Sun-filled and beautiful views everywhere! Even to die for garage!”
A property search reveals the home briefly had a $588,000 mortgage from Royal Bank but that mortgage was discharged in April, 2011.
Investigators view the home as a potential asset, a source told the Star.
In the spring of 2011, ORNGE Global gave Mazza a $250,000 advance on his 2011-2012 fiscal year bonus for securing investors for the renamed ORNGE Global.
In looking at the advance for securing investors, investigators have determined that no investors were secured by ORNGE Global. ORNGE officials have confirmed this to the Star.
The Star does not know what the anticipated bonus and salary for the 2011 fiscal year was supposed to be.
Mazza was terminated from ORNGE last month when the for-profit company that employed him as a consultant was declared bankrupt.
The bonus advance came shortly after Mazza and a tight group of executives and board members moved forward last spring with plans for ORNGE Global, which they stated was a for-profit company that would “leverage” the physical and intellectual assets of the non-profit, Ontario-funded ORNGE air ambulance service.
One executive who is still there, Tom Lepine, recently disclosed to the Star that Mazza gave him a $50,000 consulting fee on top of his $282,000 salary for helping with the for-profit business.
The Global company hoped to provide medical and air ambulance services to high net-worth clients but never got off the ground.
An ORNGE accountant who tried to blow the whistle on excessive spending in 2008 said the publicly funded ORNGE handed out money “like water.”
The third Mazza payment being investigated is a $450,000 loan made in the summer of 2011, which documents now in possession of the province show was “secured” by shares in a company called ORNGE Global Management Inc. According to documents the Star has, that is one of the for-profit companies that Mazza controls. (It is now defunct.)
As with the first loan, there is no evidence of an interest rate or that any repayments of interest or principal have been made.
ORNGE’s new boss Ron McKerlie said he was not able to confirm or deny the Star’s information.
However, he said that “if ORNGE did loan any money to its former employees, ORNGE would pursue its legal remedies to collect any debts which may be owing to the organization.”
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Kevin Donovan
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