The Chief Financial Officer for Alberta Health Services has quit in a spending scandal.

Allaudin Merali agreed to leave after some old documents surfaced showing he billed taxpayers thousands of dollars for expensive meals, to fix his car, even one claim for a 12 dollar pen.

Actring Chief Executive Officer Chris Mazurkewich with AHS says they were as surprised as anyone when the lavish spending details surfaced in a freedom of information request.

“This FOIPP request brought a different order of magnitude then what we understood to be the case and that’s where we became concerned about the public confidence in Alberta Health Services,” said Mazurkewich

The spending happened years ago when Merali was working for the Edmonton Health region.

Health Minister Fred Horne says he’s concerned about the expense claims but also pleased AHS is taking action and plans to make future expense documents publicly available.  

Meanwhile, Alberta’s official opposition party is weighing in on Wednesday’s dismissal of Merali.

In a release, Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith says the outrageous expense claims point to a broader culture of entitlement that now characterizes the 41-year-old PC government.

Wildrose Finance Critic Rob Anderson says it’s unacceptable that this kind of abuse of tax dollars was only discovered through an access to information request.

He adds we need clear accountability measures and controls in place across government so Albertans can be confident their tax dollars aren’t being squandered on such frivolous things.