Dr. Chong gets two years probation

Former health official Dr. Jose L. Chong was yesterday sentenced to two years probation and was ordered to return to the CNMI government close to $100,000 in illegal payments he received from a US-based health care provider for consulting services.

In yesterday’s sentencing at the court jampacked by relatives and friends, the 74-year-old Chong told US District Court Judge Alex Munson that he was sorry.

The sentencing concluded more than a three-year investigation and court hearings involving the former director of then Department of Public Health and a division of the San Diego Hospital Association or SHARP.

Early this year, federal law enforcement officials turned over a check worth $250,000 to Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio as part of a civil settlement deal with SHARP, a non-profit organization contracted by the CNMI in 1991 to provide health care to patients referred for medical treatment by the Commonwealth Health Center. The money went to the medical referral program of the Commonwealth.

However, SHARP entered into a questionable consulting arrangement with Chong without the knowledge of the local government, and received payments while the Patient Referral Agreement was in effect from April 15, 1991 to July 1, 1994.

Payments to Chong were made through the International Services Division, an office SHARP created to develop a medical referral network in the far Pacific, including the Northern Marianas.

The former health official was charged and pled guilty to federal violation of Bribery Concerning a Government Agency Receiving Funds.

Chong’s admission and cooperation with federal law enforcement officials had helped reduced his sentence.

“I don’t know what kind of message this sends to the community,” Munson said, after the two-year probation sentence was read.

His counsel, Atty. Eric Smith, reminded the court that his client underwent two heart bypass operations, suffered a number of strokes and is also diabetic.

Both U.S. Attorney Gregory Baka and Smith agreed that his present health status made him as a possible candidate for probation.

Aside from the probation, the court asked Chong to return the total amount of $96,000 to the Commonwealth under a payment plan. The court set the monthly payment at $5,000.