MONTREAL — The McGill University Health Centre will carry out an external review of expenses incurred by its former executive director, Arthur Porter, following the "surprise" revelation of a second car lease in addition to a Bentley for Porter, The Gazette has learned.

The MUHC's board of directors ordered the independent verification Tuesday night. The Gazette began making inquires two weeks ago about information it received that a subsidiary of the MUHC leased a second car on behalf of Porter for his wife, Pamela Mattock, who never worked for the hospital network.

Unlike Porter's luxury vehicle, the second lease was for an upscale but less expensive car, an Infiniti.

Syscor, a non-profit subsidiary of the MUHC that is involved in information technology systems, paid for the second car lease. Syscor had also made a down payment of nearly $59,000 on Porter's Bentley.

Porter is incarcerated in a Panamanian jail fighting extradition to Quebec to face criminal charges in connection with the $1.3-billion MUHC superhospital construction contract. In addition to running the MUHC from 2004 to December 2011, Porter served as chairman of the board of Syscor.

"While reviewing information about Porter's Bentley, we recently discovered Syscor leased a second car between 2008 and 2011. We do not know who benefited from its use," the board said, according to minutes of its Tuesday meeting.

"With this additional unpleasant surprise, we have decided to conduct an external and independent verification with a view to determine whether and to what extent, between April 2007 and March 2014, Syscor has paid to or paid on behalf of employees of the MUHC and/or of Syscor, expenses which are not allowed in the public health sector."

MUHC officials could neither confirm nor deny that the second car lease was for an Infiniti and for Porter's wife.

Pamela Mattock Porter, who also faces criminal charges arising from the superhospital contract, turned down a request for an interview through her lawyer, Marc-Antoine Carette. "Since Mrs. Porter is awaiting her trial, we will decline your invitation for an interview nor make any comments," Carette said in an email.

As part of the independent review, an outside accounting firm will contact the car-leasing company that arranged for the second lease to determine who, in fact, leased the vehicle. A preliminary internal review by the MUHC confirmed the second lease, but no names were actually listed on any bills or documents.

The former board of directors of the MUHC, including the chairman, David Angus, was never informed of Porter's decision to lease the Bentley. Porter discussed leasing the Bentley in 2011 with Normand Rinfret, who was chief operating officer of the MUHC at the time.

Porter had promoted Rinfret to the position of COO in 2009, and shortly after Porter told The Gazette that he wanted Rinfret to be his "right-hand man." Rinfret succeeded Porter as chief executive officer of the six-hospital MUHC network.

Rinfret told The Gazette in May that he urged Porter to put everything in writing regarding his decision to lease the Bentley, and that Porter would have to agree to pay back the down payment that Syscor had made on his behalf. The MUHC ultimately deducted that down payment from Porter's severance package.