Ronald Danderfer, seen here when he was head of B.C.'s Vital Statistics Agency, has been charged four counts of accepting a reward, advantage or benefit from a person dealing with the government. (CBC)

A former assistant deputy minister, his adviser and a manager are facing a total of 16 criminal charges following a lengthy investigation into contracting practices at B.C.'s Ministry of Health.

The charges were laid against Ronald Danderfer, Dr. Jonathan Burns and James Roy Taylor following a review conducted by independent special prosecutor John Waddell, who will now oversee the prosecution of the complex case involving alleged bribing of government officials.

Danderfer, who was once head of the province's Department of Vital Statistics and assistant deputy health minister until 2007, has been charged with four counts of accepting a reward, advantage or benefit from a person dealing with the government.

Burns, a doctor and technology consultant, is facing one charge of breach of trust, one charge of paying a commission or reward to a government official and seven charges for offering a reward or advantage to a government official.

Taylor, a former manager of network services with the Fraser Health Authority, has been charged with three charges of accepting a reward, advantage or benefit from a person dealing with the government.

A first court appearance has been scheduled for April 7 in Victoria.

Search warrants detailed allegations

According to a search warrant obtained by CBC News last October, RCMP commercial crime squad investigators alleged Danderfer accepted a trip to Paris, free stays at a Kelowna condominium, and offers of unspecified post-retirement income from Burns, of Abbotsford.

Burns headed a company called WebMed and is the inventor of a high-tech medical device called the Pixelere. The device was designed to allow home-care nurses to scan wounds on patients and then send the images to hospitals for diagnosis and was adopted by the B.C. health-care system, earning Burns's company $500,000, according to the documents obtained by CBC News.

Burns also became a paid adviser to then-assistant deputy minister Danderfer, meaning Burns was collecting fees from both the government and Provincial Health Services, the RCMP documents say. The documents also alleged that Burns collected hundreds of thousands of dollars, paid out often on Danderfer's orders, sometimes without invoices and without contracts being put out to tender.

The documents contain more allegations involving Taylor, who was hired as manager of Network Services with the Fraser Health Authority after he had been sentenced to two years house arrest for defrauding the White Rock Sea Festival.

The RCMP alleged Taylor allowed Burns fraudulently to submit more than $500,000 in invoices in return for a $70,000-a-year job for Taylor's wife, work for Taylor's daughter, and free use of a Kelowna condominium, the same one offered up to Danderfer.