A surgeon who co-owns laser eye surgery offices in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a Washington State courtroom to charges that he solicited the murder of two of his colleagues.

Dr. Michael Mockovak, of Newcastle, Wash., is accused of plotting to kill his business partner and former brother-in-law, Dr. Joseph King, and Brad Klock, the former president of their company, Clearly Lasik.

A judge set Mockovak's bail amount at $2 million and ordered him to surrender his passport and have no contact with the intended victims of the alleged plot or their families.

King resides in Washington State but divides his time between offices in the U.S. and Canada, including clinics in Burnaby and Victoria.

Klock resides in Vancouver.

Neither could be reached for comment Wednesday but King is back at work this week, said John Raffetto, the company's media representative.

According to court documents, Klock had been terminated from the company and filed a civil action contesting the termination in January 2009. The ongoing dispute aggravated Mockovak, the documents state.

Mockovak was also having problems with King. They were in the process of splitting up the company, and things weren't going well, the documents state.

Mockovak allegedly approached an employee at the company, Daniel Kultin, to arrange for the hiring of hit men.

Kultin went to authorities instead.

Kultin concocted a story, telling Mockovak that he knew professional killers in Los Angeles who could do the job, the documents state.

On Nov. 7, Kultin and Mockovak met in a washroom at a soccer complex in Tukwila, Wash.

Kultin was wearing a recording device supplied by the FBI.

During that meeting, Mockovak gave Kultin a colour photo of King and his family and $10,000 in $100 bills, according to authorities.

Another $15,000 would come after the murder, Mockovak allegedly told Kultin.

Mockovak gave Kultin a post-it note with flight information. The King family was planning to vacation in Sydney, Australia.

Mockovak told Kultin that he expected King to run on the beach alone and that that would be a good time to kill him, according to court documents.

Mockovak had earlier told Kultin that King's body would need to be found so that he could collect insurance money, the documents state.

On Nov. 12, FBI agents arrested Mockovak at his local gym.

Upon learning of the alleged murder plot, King broke down in tears, court documents state.

King told authorities that he and Mockovak had met while working in California and later became business partners.

They lived within a few blocks of each other.

King said Mockovak even knew the alarm codes to his home.