Commission Against Corruption, Macao SAR

The Court of First Instance today (February 28) adjudicated a CCAC-investigated case involving two inspectors of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau who had demanded chips from mud chip dealers in casinos.Both accused were found guilty of abusing power and were sentenced to an imprisonment of 1 year with a suspension of 2 years.

The first accused, Antˆunio Luˆqs Cachinho, aged 45, joined the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau in 1988 and was a chief inspector of the Bureau; the second accused, Joaquim Duarte De Assis, aged 36, joined the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau in 1996 and was a principal inspector of the Bureau.

When sentencing, the judge indicated that the two accused failed to confess everything even though they had admitted to having received ¡¥coffee money¡¦.They knowingly violated the law and even claimed that all the chips and money were given to them as ¡¥tips¡¦ by the mud chip dealers who had won money.Both of them denied having taken advantage of their positions to threaten others.

The charges indicated that the two accused had asked the mud chip dealers many times to pay the on-duty inspectors ¡§coffee money¡¨ of no less than MOP500.If the mud chip dealers refused to pay, the two accused, by taking advantage of their positions, would prohibit the mud chip dealers from making telephone bets (in fact, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau has no regulations on this), or would even bring the mud chip dealers to the offices of Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau in the casinos, copy their identification cards and prohibit them from gambling in the casinos.To hide such illegal acts, the two accused had intentionally asked the mud chip dealers to pay in the ¡§blind areas¡¨ which are beyond the coverage of the closed-circuit TV cameras.

After analyzing all the witnesses¡¦ testimonies and proofs, the court convicted the two accused of abusing power, adding that their illegal acts had seriously affected the reputation of the Macao SAR government and tarnished the image of impartiality and justice of the law enforcement authorities.

The case commenced in early December 2004.A mud chip dealer from Mainland China, who frequented casinos in Macao, could no longer tolerate the inspectors¡¦ long-term demands for ¡§coffee money¡¨ and complained to the CCAC.The mud chip dealer claimed that he had been asked many times by different inspectors in the VIP rooms of the casinos in Hotel Lisboa and Galaxy Waldo Hotel and Resort to pay ¡§coffee money¡¨ of no less than MOP500.Those inspectors would use body languages (such as hand gestures or eye contact) to send him ¡¥signals¡¦.To avoid getting into troubles and being prohibited from ¡§working¡¨ in the casinos as experienced by some fellows who had refused to pay money, the mud chip dealer could just obey.One day he had to pay a total of MOP5,500 as ¡§coffee money¡¨ to different inspectors stationed in the casinos.

In the night of 15 December 2004, when the two accused were repeating their usual practice and receiving 2 chips (each with a value of MOP500) from the mud chip dealer through the public relations officer of the casinos, the CCAC investigators caught them red-handed and seized from them chips worth a total of MOP13,000 and about MOP20,000 in cash.In view of the seriousness of the case, right after the completion of preliminary investigation procedure, the prosecutor-in-charge proposed and the judge approved that strict mandatory measures should be imposed on the two accused.The measures include: ordering the authorities concerned to suspend preventively the two accused from work, ordering the two accused to submit their identification and residential information and to pay bail, as well as banning them from contacting the witnesses and from entering into any casinos in Macao, etc.

During the trial, both accused admitted that all the chips and part of the cash seized from them on that day were given by others.They also confessed to having received ¡§coffee money¡¨ from gamblers many times, but claimed that all the ¡§coffee money¡¨ was given to them by those gamblers who had ¡§given away cash freely to everyone¡¨ after winning money.