Commission Against Corruption, Macao SAR

The CCAC has detected a case of corruption and document forgery involving a construction works contract of the University of Macau (UMAC). In the process of awarding a residential college construction contract, a then administrative officer of the Construction and Engineering Section of the Campus Management and Development Office of the UMAC allegedly assisted one of the tenderers in the preparation of tender, forged tender documents and participated in part of the tender evaluation. Eventually, the tenderer was awarded the contract. Subsequently, a newly established construction company of which the then administrative officer was one of the shareholders was subcontracted by the contractor to carry out some of the works in return. The value of the construction contract involved was around MOP220 million.

In late June 2020, the CCAC received a report letter from the UMAC and subsequently placed the case on file for investigation. It was revealed that the suspect literally participated in the project initiation proposal, the tender process and the tender evaluation, but he never made any declaration and application for recusal to the UMAC. Familiar with the amount of the budget set by the UMAC, the suspect suggested the contractor involved setting the price similar to the amount, assisted it in the preparation of the tender documents by using the computer of the university and falsely claimed that it had experience in carrying out two campus construction works for education institutions. In addition, the suspected also participated in the construction works involved. In return, after winning the contract, the contractor subcontracted part of the works to a new company that was established for this contract and the suspect was one of the shareholders.

Following an in-depth investigation, the CCAC also discovered that the suspect unlawfully revealed the confidential data of other works of the UMAC to another construction company and helped the latter won the contract of rain shelters construction offered by the university.

The suspect and the other two shareholders of the company have allegedly committed passive bribery to perform illicit acts and document forgery. The former has also allegedly committed breach of secrecy. The two persons in charge of the contractor involved are suspected to have committed active bribery and document forgery. The case has been referred to the Public Prosecutions Office.