CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Better Government Association investigation found Loretto Hospital has spent millions of dollars on companies with ties to Dr. Anosh Ahmed, its former chief operating officer who resigned last month amid a COVID-19 vaccine scandal.
Four million dollars is how much Loretto paid to three companies in one year that have ties to the former hospital COO, according to BGA president and CEO David Greising.
"Sameer Suheil who happens to be a neighbor, friend, and business associate of Dr. Ahmed, and we found this in some of the tax disclosures of the hospital and it raises some troubling questions," he said.
Greising told WBBM Newsradio there should be a formal investigation into the spending.
Block Club Chicago reported Sunheil’s three companies were created in 2018, after Ahmed began working as Loretto’s COO and CFO. According to Block Club Chicago, one of the companies is based out of Suheil’s condo in Trump Tower and isn’t registered with the Secretary of State’s Office.
"Mr. Suheil's businesses may very well be the very best businesses, but the connections between these two people really do raise a lot of questions," Greising said.
A spokesman for Suhail said he has longstanding business ties to more than a dozen community hospitals in Chicago, as well as in Georgia, Florida and internationally. He said one of Suhail’s medical residency businesses has provided services to Loretto since 2011, years before Ahmed arrived.
Block Club Chicago also reported Suheil removed his name from the state registration for SKS Healthcare management, a company contracted with Loretto two days after Ahmed resigned. A hospital spokeswoman called their services cost-effective. The West Side hospital gets the majority of its funding from Medicaid and Medicare.
Related
