Former Alabama Governor Indicted for Health Care Fraud
A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D), his former chief of staff and a physician on eight counts of alleged health care fraud, conspiracy and program fraud for the state Medicaid's Maternity Care Program, the Montgomery Advertiser reports. Dr. Phillip Bobo was also charged with two counts of witness tampering and one count each of wire fraud, perjury and lying to FBI agents. The indictment alleges that while Siegelman was governor, he and his former Chief of Staff Paul Hamrick aided and abetted Bobo in a plan to undermine the competitive bidding process to obtain contracts for Bobo's business, Neighborhood Health Services. The Maternity Care Program aims to decrease infant mortality rates and provide medical care to low-income pregnant women. Siegelman and Hamrick allegedly facilitated the transfer of $550,000 from the Special Education Trust Fund to the Alabama Fire College, where Bobo is director of the paramedic training program, to help Bobo pay off a competitor in the bidding process. Federal prosecutors said the three men used "deceit, craft and trickery" to rig the bidding process. U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said, "The competitive bid process ... was critical to ensuring that the federal funding was properly expended to the highest benefit of Alabama's poor, pregnant women. Today's charges allege that corruption and the attempted corruption of that process denied Alabama citizens of the honest services of former Siegelman and his chief of staff, Hamrick, all for the benefit of Dr. Bobo." Speaking at a news conference, Siegelman said the charges are "baseless," adding, "This is nothing more than Republican politics at its worst -- nothing more than character assassination." Martin denied that the prosecution was politically motivated, saying that the charges were "brought solely as a result of these defendants' having violated federal laws." Neither Hamrick nor Bobo could be reached for comment, but their attorneys told the Associated Press that they maintain their innocence (McGrew/Davis, Montgomery Advertiser, 5/28).
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