QUEENS: NO CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR CLINIC

The state attorney general's office said yesterday that it would not
file criminal charges against a Queens drug abuse clinic accused by
state regulators of defrauding the state's Medicaid program of
millions of dollars. Officials with the attorney general's office
said that after a long investigation of the clinic, Community Related
Services Inc., they could not prove that clinic officials had
intended to cheat the government. On Sunday, the state Medicaid
inspector general's office and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance
Abuse Services announced a $16.5 million fine against the company and
issued 25 findings of "serious Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse."
Efforts to obtain a working phone number were unsuccessful.