Commission Against Corruption, Macao SAR

An inspector surnamed Chio from the Macao Economic Services, conspiring with another man surnamed Ng, had allegedly solicited bribes from several factories in Macao under the excuses of the factories violating certain regulations in their production process. The case was uncovered by the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) after an 11-month investgation. There were 4 suspects in the case, including the inspector's wife, who assisted in covering up the source of bribes, and the person-in-charge of a factory, who was suspected of offering bribes. The case was handed over to the Public Prosecutions Office today (6 March).

The CCAC received a tip-off in April 2005, reporting that an inspector from the Macao Economic Services had abused his authority to blackmail several factories. Investigation revealed that the inspector, surnamed Chio, had obtained the contact numbers of various factories when performing his duty of inspection. Once irregularities were discovered in the production process, the inspector would call the man surnamed Ng, who acted as a middleman to contact the factories. Ng threatened that the irregularities found would cause suspension of the factories' certificates of origin (CO) but "the problems could be solved" by paying tens of thousands of patacas. Since the middleman could state detailed information of the irregularities, date and time of the inspection, the surname of the inspector and the "successful track record" of other factories, many factories would pay the money to safeguard their CO, which was crucial to the business. Transactions normally took place in fast-food restaurants and caf赌s.

The inspector and the middleman had been using the same method to solicit bribes from different factories for a period of time. Factories from different industries such as shoe-making, garment and textile, etc, were involved. Inquiries showed that the two suspects had been seeking bribes amounting to about MOP300,000 from the same factory within a six-month period, during which unjustified sum of money was found in the savings accounts of the inspector and his wife.

The inspector was also suspected of violating the staff regulations of Macao Economic Services by disclosing the inspection information including the date and list of factories to be inspected through the middleman to the person-in-charge of the factories, so that the factories could be well prepared for the inspections.

Piles of confidential documents of the Macao Economic Services about factory inspections were found in the inspector's apartment during investigation.

After 11 months of investigation and evidence gathering, the case was transferred today (6 March) to the Public Prosecutions Office. The inspector, surnamed Chio, had allegedly conspired with another man surnamed Ng to solicit bribes from several factories. The inspector had also violated the obligation of confidentiality of the public service, while his wife was suspected of covering up the unjustified money. A person-in-charge of the factory surnamed Chan was suspected of offering bribes. They were charged for the alleged criminal offences of offering and receiving bribes, unjustified income and violation of confidentiality of the public service.

The CCAC calls upon the commercial establishments to embody business ethics in their management. They are requested to express rejection and report to the CCAC when they come across situations of public servants abusing their authorities or soliciting bribes. A fair and just business environment requires concerted efforts of all parties.