William Chong Wong

William Chong Wong (died June 17, 2018) was a Honduran economist, professor and politician. He twice served as Minister of Finance of Honduras, during the administrations of President Ricardo Maduro and President Porfirio Lobo Sosa. He was born in Honduras to Chinese immigrant parents and educated in Spain and the United States. He was a professor at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras and co-founded the Central American Technological University in 1987.

Early life and education Chong Wong was born in Puerto Cortés, Honduras, the eldest of five sons of two Chinese immigrants who had fled war-torn China in the 1940s. His father arrived in Honduras at the age of 28, via Hong Kong, the United States and Cuba. His mother arrived in 1947.

Chong Wong was appointed Minister of Finance of Honduras by President Ricardo Maduro in 2004.

A week before his death in June 2018, Chong Wong was named as one of the 38 people implicated in a corruption case filed by MACCIH, the anti-corruption agency of the Organization of American States (OAS). The so-called "Pandora case" involved the alleged diversion of 282 million lempiras (about US$11.2 million) of public funds during the 2013 election campaign. He denied any wrongdoing.

Personal life and death Chong Wong was a Roman Catholic. He never married and had no children.

Chong Wong suffered from pancreatic cancer for the last two years of his life. He sought treatment in the United States and underwent chemotherapy. He died in Tegucigalpa on June 17, 2018, from respiratory arrest.