In Calgary courts: Preliminary inquiry begins for Calgary doctor accused of billing $2.2 million for services not performed
Evidence began Monday to determine if a Calgary doctor will stand trial for fraud over allegations she bilked taxpayers $2.2 million for work she never performed.
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At the request of defence lawyers Clayton Rice and Heather Ferg, Justice Heather Lamoureux ordered a publication ban on the testimony of witnesses being called by Crown prosecutor Colin Schulhauser at the preliminary inquiry of Dr. Shabeena Fazhulla.
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Schulhauser expects to call nine witnesses over the course of the Calgary Court of Justice hearing which is scheduled to last five days but will likely rap up on Thursday.
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Rice told Lamoureux he doesn't anticipate disputing whether there is a sufficient amount of evidence to order his client to stand trial before a Calgary Court of King's Bench jury.
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Fazhulla, 50, faces a single charge of fraud laid by Calgary police last year in connection with bill claims by her.
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When the charge was laid in April 2024 police said they were contacted by the Alberta Health Services investigative unit after the health authority probed the billing practices of family physician Fazhulla, who worked out of the SF Medical Clinic at 1106 Edmonton Tr. N.E. The investigation covered her billing from March 2020 to June 2022, said police.
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Fazhulla was also listed as a clinical lecturer at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine.
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'It is alleged the doctor was billing the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan for additional time beyond the actual hours worked,' Calgary police said in an April 17, news release.
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