VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – The Ministry of Health has asked the RCMP to look into allegations of inappropriate conduct, contracting and data-management practices involving ministry employees and drug researchers.

The ministry has fired four employees and suspended three others without pay, while freezing their access to ministry data.

Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid says the ministry has given the RCMP interim results of an internal investigation, supported by a lead investigator from the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Citizens’ Services and Open Government.

MacDiarmid says the investigation looked at contracting and research grant practices between ministry employees and researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria.