I. Anti-corruption

In 2023, the CCAC carried out investigation of various types of corruption cases in accordance with its duties. It saw a decrease in both reports of corruption cases related to the economy and reports of cases of defrauding Government subsidies, which frequently appeared in various forms in the past. However, the number of complaints related to employment or job promotion increased and such complaints mainly originated from the private sector. Up to 30^th September 2023, 69 cases were handled by the CCAC, of which 37 were related to the public sector and 32 to the private sector. 54 cases were concluded, of which 36 were related to the public sector and 18 to the private sector, with eight of them having been referred to the Public Prosecutions Office. The situations of the main work are as follows:

1. Case investigation: compared with the time before the epidemic, the year 2023 recorded a relatively low number of reports and complaints in the area of anti-corruption. The number of cases placed on files and the number of cases referred to other bodies also remained low. During the epidemic, Macao’s socio-economic activities slowed down significantly and even stagnated at times. As such, in the beginning of the post-epidemic period, corruption-related activities tended to decrease.

   With the unremitting efforts of the CCAC over the years and under the strategies of targeting both combating and prevention, the year 2023 recorded a significant drop in reports of cases of defrauding Government subsidies (which frequently appeared in various forms in the past), which is gratifying. The CCAC will continue to pay attention to the trend of this type of crime so as to prevent its resurgence when socio-economic activities thrive.

   Up to 30^th September 2023, among the cases investigated by the CCAC, eight involved different security service companies, making up a relatively high percentage. They involved such crimes as fraud, corruption in the private sector, document forgery to obtain quotas on non-resident workers as well as problems related to tendering and bidding. On the other hand, among the cases investigated, there was a decrease in reports of corruption cases related to the economy, while the number of reports related to employment or job promotion went up, especially in the private sector, including different gaming concessionaires. There was also an increase in the number of complaints related to corruption in the aspects of recruitment and job promotion in the private sector.

   In addition, there were some cases that involved the public sector, which however did not show apparent characteristics that lead to the conclusion that they became a trend; there were also a few cases that involved public schools or educational institutions.

2. Support for improving the Electoral Law of the Legislative Assembly: in 2023, the CCAC, in accordance with the plans drawn up in the Policy Address of the previous year, studied the aspects that could be improved on the Electoral Law of the Legislative Assembly and also presented its opinions of law revision to the Macao SAR Government. It particularly proposed the establishment of the “crime of public incitement to not voting or casting blank or invalid votes”. The proposal was endorsed by the Macao SAR Government, thus contributing to the improvement of Macao’s electoral regime.

3. Declaration of assets and interests: the “notification processing system of declaration of assets and interests” (hereinafter referred to as the electronic notification platform), created by the CCAC, has been put into use for almost a decade and has been registering year-on-year increases in users. In the first half of 2023, the CCAC took the initiative to contact the departments/entities that had yet to use the electronic notification platform, of which six applied to join as users afterwards. Therefore, to date, a total of 73 departments/entities are using the electronic notification platform. Up to 30^th September 2023, the CCAC received a total of 3,150 letters/notification letters, of which 3,056 were uploaded through the aforesaid electronic notification platform, representing 97% of the total number of letters/notification letters received.

   Since the application of the “online appointment system for the declaration of assets and interests” launched by the CCAC in the end of 2021, to date, the number of appointments made has been higher than expected. According to statistical data, up to 30^th September 2023, 1,266 people made an appointment to submit the declaration of assets and interests through the online appointment system.

   As regards the creation of a platform for the sharing of data on the declaration of assets and interests with the Office of the President of the Court of Final Appeal, the CCAC carried out research and development of the system according to the plan and the process has been satisfactory. It is currently in the data testing stage.

4. External investigation assistance mechanism: as regards the mutual assistance cases in the first half of 2023, the majority of them necessitate cooperation with the National Supervisory Commission and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong. With the epidemic situation being under control, there was an increase in mutual assistance cases. Compared to the year 2022, there was a significant increase in cases with written requests for case assistance from external authorities in the first half of 2023, and thus a record high in the number of cases filed for investigation was registered. Up to 30^th September 2023, the CCAC handled a total of 33 mutual assistance cases, of which 25 were followed up at the requests from counterparts outside the Region and eight necessitated assistance from counterparts outside the Region at the request of the CCAC.

II. Ombudsman’s actions

In 2023, the CCAC continued to implement the 2^nd Five-Year Plan based on the objectives outlined in the Policy Address. When it comes to the performance of its ombudsman functions, the CCAC adhered to the principle of legality, the principle of proportionality and the principle of adequacy, striving to achieve the governance objectives of not only “getting things done” but also “getting things done well”.

Up to 30^th September 2023, along with the cases carried forward from the previous year, the Ombudsman Bureau of the CCAC had to follow up 259 inquiry files and six comprehensive investigation files.

As regards the ombudsman cases, the CCAC continued to exercise its oversight functions and effectively implement the responsibilities as vested by law. Through continuous optimisation of the relevant case management system, it made use of information technology to enhance the stringency of case procedures and the effectiveness of subsequent follow-up action. In particular, in order to realise true administrative legality and reasonableness, the CCAC sought to strike a balance between the principle of confidentiality and information transparency, flexibly adjusted the methods of handling cases, adhered to the policy direction of taking specific supervisory measures for specific cases and effectively implemented the solutions to problems. In addition, the effectiveness of implementation of the “retrospective review” mechanism for the purpose of supervising the improvement of governance of competent departments or entities was significant.

The handling of issues within the same departments or the same areas in a centralised way with a view to creating a unified recommendation mechanism often only makes slow progress due to a lack of human resources. The CCAC intends to take the opportunity of the revision of the Organic Law of the Commission Against Corruption of the Macao Special Administrative Region to analyse the feasibility of introducing the systems of sending investigators to monitor cases in person and to carry out inspection. However, it is not until the legal procedures have been concluded by all the departments and entities involved in the legislative process that the aforesaid systems may be further promoted.

Nevertheless, in 2023, the CCAC continued to make unremitting efforts and earnestly achieved most of the objectives drawn up in the Policy Address in the area of the ombudsman’s actions:

1. Adequate increase of transparency: in February and May 2023, the CCAC published the press release on complaints over the noise caused by several construction projects at Lot P, Avenida do Nordeste and the press release on the results of an inquiry into the land plot at Rua dos Pescadores where buildings no. 15 and 17 (commonly known as the “Leather Factory”) were located, respectively. In June 2023, in the annual report published in the Official Gazette of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the results of investigations of about a dozen ombudsman cases were publicised so as to deepen the public’s knowledge and recognition of the CCAC’s work. In the second half of 2023, the CCAC strived to seek more avenues (e.g. its website) for the timely and adequate publicising of the investigation details and results of more ombudsman cases. Through presenting simple reports to the public in a timely manner, it aims to adequately meet society’s expectations on transparency and disclosure.

2. Mechanisms of “unified recommendation” and “retrospective review”: up to 30^th September 2023, there were ten ombudsman cases that were consolidated and handled together by the CCAC as they involved the same department, person or issue, with a view to better concentrating investigative resources, analysing the facts more comprehensively and applying the law more precisely. In the annual report published in the Official Gazette of the Macao Special Administrative Region in June 2023, the situations of cases followed up by the CCAC through the “retrospective review” mechanism in the previous year were made known to the public. The cases continued to be handled through the aforesaid mechanism in 2023 were also publicised so as to reinforce the feeling of the public of their participation in monitoring the work of the relevant administrative departments.

3. Encouraging self-confidence of the administration: in 2023, among the ombudsman cases with investigation and analysis work completed by the CCAC, in addition to those with rectification made after the intervention of the CCAC and those with follow up action taken or promised by the departments involved upon acceptance of the opinions or recommendations issued by the CCAC, the majority of the complaints were found to have no signs of illegality. After collating the relevant data, the CCAC took appropriate measures to recognise the departments or bodies for their positive and proactive attitude towards making administration improvement. It also encouraged the relevant services for their legal, reasonable and appropriate practices.

4. Strengthening supervision on disciplinary procedures: with the CCAC’s launch of the “Integrity Management Plan - Progression and Innovation” that is scheduled to take place in 2024, in conjunction with the revision of the CCAC’s organic law, in addition to monitoring the disciplinary processes of public servants in certain cases, the CCAC is gradually establishing a broader monitoring mechanism so as to extend its supervisory power which enables it to have knowledge and observe the disciplinary legal situation of public departments. This may allow it to classify the existing phenomena more effectively and issue opinions or suggestions for improvement.

5. Strengthening training for ombudsman staff: in the first half of 2023, the CCAC arranged its ombudsman staff to participate in a series of online training activities organised by the Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA) so that they may learn from the experience and regimes relating to the handling of matters in the area of the ombudsman’s functions in other countries and regions. Professionals from judicial bodies were also invited to give lectures and training sessions and share their practical experience within the scope of contentious administrative appeal, which aimed to expand the horizons and knowledge of the CCAC’s staff in different areas.

III. Publicity, education and community relations

In 2023, the CCAC continued to implement the content of the long-term promotion plan “All for Integrity” and further promoted and disseminated the messages of integrity and the fight against corruption among young people in accordance with the Policy Address. In addition, the CCAC stepped up efforts in using videos to disseminate the content of its promotion. With the stabilisation of the epidemic situation, it carried out more offline promotion activities in a bid to promote greater cooperation and interaction with different sectors of the society, which aimed to increase the effectiveness of the integrity education in the community.

As for regular education and promotion work, up to 30^th September, the CCAC organised a total of 440 talks, seminars and activities of various types, recording a total of 22,722 participants who were mainly public servants, employees of commercial firms, teenagers, tertiary institution students, secondary and primary school students, kindergarten students and ordinary residents. The CCAC also continued to release learning materials on different topics on the “Integrity Information Webpage for Public Servants” and the dedicated webpage for the law of Prevention and Suppression of Bribery in the Private Sector. It also continued to launch the online course entitled “Uphold Your Integrity” in cooperation with the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau. The following initiatives were also carried out:

1. Carrying out promotion for “All for Integrity” project targeting at young people: in 2023, the CCAC placed emphasis on promotion among young people in order to enhance their understanding of the CCAC and raise their integrity awareness. The integrity promotion activities that were held included:

   1. Holding the “Integrity Cup” Invitational Debate Competition: students from six higher education institutions were invited to debate on various topics related to integrity. The activity was broadcast on the CCAC’s channel on YouTube and the Facebook of the co-organising unit simultaneously. The participating students said that they had more profound understanding of the work of integrity building and the relevant laws in the process of preparing for the competition.

   2. Holding the “Micro-Movie Production Competition on Honesty – When Integrity Touches My Heart”: this competition aims at encouraging young people to reflect on topics related to honesty through micro-movie production and share their thoughts with the public about honesty and integrity through images. The participating students were mainly from ten higher education institutions of Macao, the Chinese mainland and the region of Taiwan, and 19 non-tertiary education institutions of Macao. In April, the CCAC held the award presentation ceremony where the competition results were announced and the winning teams were awarded.

   3. The integrity education base for young people promoting various integrity activities: the CCAC’s Branch Office in Taipa, which is positioned as an integrity education base for young people, early this year, launched a brand-new experiential education activity entitled “Study Visit on Integrity – Integrity Experience Programme for Young People” for local higher education and secondary school students. Various activities are tailor-made for the institutions and schools based on their teaching needs, including the talks on the CCAC and the anti-corruption laws, and the experiential activities on interactive multimedia facilities, among the others, which allow students to learn about integrity knowledge and raise their integrity and law-abiding awareness in a fun-filled atmosphere.

      In addition to receiving different local youth associations of Macao, the Branch Office in Taipa has also been constantly organising integrity activities in the community that are of special characteristics and are catered to the preference of young people with an aim to establish closer ties with them. In the first half of the year, the CCAC particularly organised a workshop called “Enjoy a Real Coffee Treat at the CCAC – Youth Integrity Promotion Activity” where the making of the “coffee of integrity” by the young people themselves served as a lead-in, through which the CCAC explained to them the corruption prevention law and encouraged them to come forward to report possible corruption cases and jointly safeguard the righteousness of the society. In the second half of the year, the activity named “What Investigators Actually Do – Youth Integrity Promotion Activity” was held where members of the youth associations were able to acquire corruption prevention knowledge and skills. Moreover, by experiencing the work of investigators through some physical fitness challenges and AR games, the young people were able to learn more about the integrity knowledge.

   4. Launching the first-ever Integrity Promotion Plan for Higher Education Students: in order to encourage higher education students to actively participate in integrity promotion, the CCAC launched its first-ever “UNI Volunteer Service Project – Integrity Promotion Plan for Higher Education Students”in 2023. In the first term of the three-month activity, the participants completed the legal training and the tour guide training provided by the CCAC, and gained first-hand experience in integrity promotion including serving as tour guides at the integrity education base, assisting in short-video shooting, designing and producing materials relating to promotion of integrity in the new media, and promoting integrity by disseminating and sharing messages to their relatives and peers via social media.

   5. “Dissemination of Integrity in Schools” - Training of Teenage Ambassadors of Integrity and Practice Plan in Schools: the CCAC held the “Dissemination of Integrity in Schools” – Training of Teenage Ambassadors of Integrity and Practice Plan in Schools in the academic year 2023/2024 where Form 2 to Form 5 students were recruited as “teenage ambassadors of integrity”. Those who have completed the training will carry out integrity promotion activities in schools in 2024. Through organising activities on their own, the students will disseminate the message of integrity and develop the ability to promote integrity and honesty among their peers.

   6. “Uniting for Integrity – ‘Integrity’ Sports Competition Day”: the CCAC organised the “Uniting for Integrity – ‘Integrity’ Sports Competition Day” targeting at higher education and secondary school students and members of youth associations in October. Through team competitions, fringe activities under the theme of “investigators” and stage activities, the CCAC disseminated the message of integrity and fair competition among young people and encourage them to take real action to support integrity building.

2. Producing various multi-media materials to disseminate the message of integrity to the public to tie in with the general public’s habits of receiving information in today’s society, the CCAC has been continuously producing short-video programmes and multi-media games about integrity and launched them on the WeChat official account, video channel and YouTube channel etc.

   1. Launching multi-media programmes entitled “Corruption Cases” and “About Integrity”: in early 2023, the CCAC launched two multi-media programmes with different styles: “Corruption Cases” and “About Integrity”. The former placed emphasis on explaining the real cases that the CCAC has handled while the latter introduced related in-depth information of the law on Prevention and Suppression of Bribery in the Private Sector to the audience in a simple way through fun-filled simulated scenarios. In order for the two programmes to reach out more people, not only are they launched on the CCAC’s social media platforms every month regularly, they are also broadcast on the latest news webpage, mobile application and social media platform of Macao Daily News.

   2. Producing short-video programme “CC A See” the CCAC has continuously been producing a one-minute short-video programme for young people called “CC A See” where integrity information is brought up to the audience through topics of festivals or current affairs in a light-hearted and humourous way. Meanwhile, numerous WeChat infographics and other promotional short videos were launched.

   3. Launching WeChat Quiz Game “Embark on the road to integrity”: the CCAC launched the WeChat Quiz Game called “Embark on the road to integrity” in June which encouraged residents to know and support the anti-corruption work of the CCAC and jointly build a clean society. The game recorded over 16,500 participants and achieved satisfactory results.

3. Promoting integrity education for children and parent education to nurture good virtue of the new generation: in 2023, the CCAC stepped up efforts to promote the book entitled Story Time with William: Stories about Integrity for Children which was published at the end of 2022 among schools, parents and civic associations through, namely, organising the parent-child promotion activities exclusively for kindergarten entitled “Listen to the Stories and Learn Integrity – Story Time with William” with the parent teacher associations of some schools, co-organising the activity entitled “To Grow Integrity in the Community 2023” with civic associations, and the parent-child reading activities held by the eight public libraries of Macao, with an aim to encourage parents to read with them the story collection published by the CCAC so as to guide them to develop positive values in life.

   In addition, between May and June, the CCAC held the activity called “Spend the Children’s Day with William 2023 – The Battle of Integrity among Children” in 16 local schools which featured themed animation, story discussion and games, among the others, through which primary one and two students were able to understand the meaning of fair competition so that they could develop the correct values of honesty, law-abidingness and fair competition. Over 1,800 students participated in the activity.

   In order to maintain the quality and effectiveness of the brand activity about integrity education for primary students entitled “New Generation of Integrity – Education Programme on Honesty for Primary Students”, the CCAC started to renew the teaching materials in the first half of 2023 by taking reference to the comments from the teachers and development of the students. Such teaching materials will be available for use in the 2023/2024 academic year. In addition, the teaching resources under the column of Stories about Integrity for Children of the Resources Database for Integrity Education were also updated.

   As for parent education, the CCAC specially launched a themed webpage which featured teaching resources such as video clips, guidelines for solving problems in order to encourage parents to set as good examples in family education and nurture the next generation with integrity and honesty for Macao.

4. Unifying the efforts of education sector to jointly promote the integrity education for young people: in May 2023, the CCAC held the “Awards Ceremony of Panel of Advisors for Teaching Materials on Integrity cum Thematic Sharing Session” to present the certificates of appreciation to the members of the panel of advisors for writing, scrutinising and teaching trial lessons for the teaching materials for the CCAC in the 2021/2022 academic year. During the ceremony, it also invited the representative of the awarded members to share views on the design of integrity teaching. Afterwards, expert representatives of the members of the panel of advisors discussed and exchanged views with the individuals of the education sector who attended the ceremony on the topic of “Integrity Education for Young People in the Era of Artificial Intelligence – Opportunities and Challenges”.

5. Promoting a clean environment for doing business for start-ups: in order to encourage start-ups to manage and do business with integrity, the CCAC specially launched the material kit of corruption prevention for start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises with an aim to strengthen the entrepreneurs’ awareness of corruption prevention, build an internal system to prevent corruption as soon as possible so as to enhance the companies’ image and competitiveness which, in a long term, better benefits their business development.

6. Branch Offices continuing to provide convenient services: in addition to the use for integrity education, the two Branch Offices have simultaneously been providing the public with convenient services for lodging complaints and reports. Up to 30th September 2023, the Branch Office in Areia Preta and the Branch Office in Taipa received a total of 349 complaints/ reports, requests for help and consultation and simple enquiries. Among them, there were 39 counts having made appointments through the online appointment platform in advance.

7. Enhancing liaison and cooperation with schools and civic associations: the CCAC visited many schools and civic associations in Macao to exchange views on building a clean society and discuss feasible cooperation plans. In addition, the Branch Offices of the CCAC received 45 civic associations, institutions and organisations for visits at the offices. The seminars for explanation of laws and the guided tours allowed the residents to have a profound understanding of the work carried out by the CCAC and enhance their awareness of integrity.

   Moreover, the CCAC co-organised an integrity promotion activity in the community with civic associations named “A Chat with Friends of Integrity” where the general public were able to acquire the legal knowledge related to ombudsman’s actions and corruption prevention which are closely related to their livelihood through light-hearted dramas so that they could understand how to protect their own legitimate rights and avoid violating the laws.

8. “Integrity Volunteer Team” exerting their strength to dedicate themselves to promoting integrity: the CCAC promotes the professional development of the volunteers. In 2023, the CCAC organised several professional training courses for the members of the volunteer team. The volunteers who completed the training courses successively participated in drama performances in the community, video shooting and promotion work. Moreover, members of the parent-child volunteer group also participated in the recording of the brand new integrity song for children and several integrity activities in the community.

IV. External affairs

Ever since Macao implemented full resumption of normal travel in 2023, the CCAC successively organised its delegations for some external visits with an aim to strengthen exchange and cooperation with other supervision agencies in the surrounding regions. It also sent its staff to receive trainings in the Chinese mainland in order to enhance their law enforcement skills and capacity.

The CCAC’s delegations visited Hong Kong twice in February and March for visits to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong and the Office of the Ombudsman of Hong Kong respectively where they exchanged views on integrity building and supervision of administrative legality of the public departments, among the others. In June, the CCAC organised its delegation to visit Beijing and Hebei where they visited the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, the National Supervisory Commission, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Hebei Provincial Discipline Inspection and Supervisory Committee to discuss and exchange views on the actions of integrity building carried out by the Macao SAR and share the work experience.

Regarding the implementation review of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Macao Special Administrative Region, the CCAC assigned its staff to accompany the Chinese delegation to participate in the 14^th meeting of the working group on the implementation review of the UNCAC, 14^th meeting of the working group on corruption prevention, 17^th meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental working group on asset recovery, as well as the 12^th open-ended international expert meeting to enhance international cooperation under the UNCAC which took place in Vienna of Austria via online means and in person in June and September. The agenda for the meetings held in June included implementation of relevant conference resolutions, good practices in the prevention of corruption, interlinkages between prevention and law enforcement approaches, performance of the mechanism for the review of implementation of the UNCAC, financial and budgetary matters, exchange of information, and practices and experiences gained. The topics discussed in the meetings held in September included technical assistance in relation to chapters IV and V of the UNCAC, good practices and challenges with respect to the establishment of effective financial disclosure systems for appropriate public officials and promotion of the use of information and communication technologies, among the others.

When it comes to fulfilling its duties as a member of the relevant international organisations, the CCAC, since the full resumption of normal travel, has been sending its staff to attend meetings organised by different associations. Being a member of the Anti-Corruption Initiative (ACI) for Asia and the Pacific, the CCAC assigned its staff to attend the “11^th Regional Conference of the ACI for Asia and the Pacific” jointly organised by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Manila, Philippines, in May at their invitation.

In July, at the invitation of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) Asian Regional Secretariat, the CCAC assigned its staff to Bangkok, Thailand, to attend the “IOI Asian Regional Meeting and International Conference 2023”. The meeting aims at gathering Asian Regional members and institutions to exchange their experience and facilitating regional cooperation and discussion with a view, for the IOI, to safeguarding the aims of the Venice Principles and the United Nations Resolution on the role of Ombudsman. In addition, the CCAC also sent its staff to attend the “4^th Plenary Meeting” of the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Authorities (GlobE Network).

In September, the CCAC assigned its staff to attend the General Assembly of the Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA) and the International scientific and practical conference named “Effective practices of ombudsmen: national features and universal approaches” in the Republic of Tatarstan of Russia.

In addition, since the Macao SAR is a member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), the CCAC was invited to join a Macao delegation which comprised some staff of other relevant departments of the SAR, to attend the “APG Annual Meeting 2023” in Toronto, Canada.

Despite external visits, the CCAC successively received visiting delegations of the Hong Kong ICAC and the Hebei Provincial Supervisory Committee in July and September. The CCAC and the ICAC agreed to continuously consolidate their co-operative relations and join hands to proactively take forward the integrity building of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The Hebei Provincial Supervisory Committee knew the corruption prevention and integrity education work carried out by the CCAC in the community and schools. The two parties also exchanged views on issues such as corruption fighting and mutual case assistance.

Regarding training courses outside Macao, in order to enhance the professional level and knowledge of the investigators of the CCAC and strengthen their understanding of the development of the country, the CCAC and the Zhejiang Police College jointly organised “The 3^rd National Studies Course for the CCAC of Macao in Zhejiang Police College” between March and April 2023. A total of 27 investigators participated in the training course in Hangzhou, which achieved the desired results.

V. Optimisation of the operation and internal management of the CCAC

To tie in with the long-term development of integrity building, the CCAC initiated the review of the Organic Law of the Commission Against Corruption of the Macao Special Administrative Region and the Administrative Regulation of the Organisation and Operation of the Service of the Commission Against Corruption in 2021 and actively took forward the process of the revision of the legislation.

The CCAC has completed the preliminary technical preparatory work related to the bill and optimised the content of some of the provisions. It has been continuously maintaining close communication with the legislative coordination departments in order to strive to submit the relevant bill to the competent bodies as soon as possible for the official launch of the relevant legislative procedure.

I. Anti-corruption actions

In 2024, the CCAC will continue to dedicate itself to fighting corruption and promoting integrity by combating all types of corruption crimes. In line with the Policy Address of the SAR Government, the CCAC will achieve the goals of integrity building in Macao by carrying out the following actions:

1. Full preparation for supervision of elections: the Chief Executive Election will take place in 2024, while the Legislative Assembly Elections will take place in 2025. Therefore, the CCAC will be well prepared as ever and hold training activities, during which the personnel will learn the legal aspect of the Chief Executive Election Law and the Electoral Law of the Legislative Assembly to be revised and thoroughly understand the significance of the new revision of the two laws. In addition, the CCAC will make preparations to monitor the elections in a comprehensive way and in various aspects such as staffing, internal operation, intelligence gathering, etc.

2. Implementation of the “Integrity Management Plan”: the 2^nd Five-Year Plan proposed that a more complete “Integrity Management Plan” would be launched in a timely manner. The plan includes resuming the “Integrity Management Plan” for public sector and studying the launch of the plan for the private sector. In fact, the year 2024 marks the fourth year of the implementation of the 2^nd Five-Year Plan. In this year, the CCAC will implement the “Integrity Management Plan” by reviewing again the “Integrity Management Plan – Protocol of Collaboration” signed with various public departments and will continue to optimise the guidelines on integrity, the electronic platform for resource sharing, the electronic system for disciplinary procedure reporting, etc.

3. Implementation of monitoring inspection system: in order to implement the monitoring inspection system set out in the section of integrity building in the 2^nd Five-Year Plan, in 2024, the CCAC will, in a timely manner, carry out random inspection on vetting and approval procedures for subsidy applications run by public departments or autonomous funds. It will regularly request for the data on the subsidies and allowances from the relevant entities and review, from the viewpoint of supervision, whether or not the procedures are adequate and whether or not illegalities exist in the cases of grant of subsidies. At the same time, the departments or autonomous funds may be reminded to improve the procedures and vetting requirements from the perspective of corruption prevention and fraud.

4. Active engagement in external exchange and training: regarding international and regional mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, the CCAC will engage in exchange actions that are more in-depth and richer than mutual assistance in cases, seeking to explore a viable path towards final conclusion of agreements of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. As to personnel training, the CCAC will reinforce training activities in order to elevate investigators’ quality, especially those regarding the issues such as updates of international corruption crimes, the latest trends of money laundering, the development of digital forensics, etc.

5. Reinforcement of investigative facilities for keeping up with the times: the CCAC will upgrade the equipment for investigation and forensic software in a timely manner. Meanwhile, it will also develop specific programs on its own in order to ensure that the technologies adopted by the CCAC will keep up with the times.

II. Ombudsman’s actions

With adherence to the concept “To act with virtue, to live with integrity”, the CCAC will continue to carry out education actions on integrity targeting at all strata of society. Through successful promotion of the five-year long-term promotion plan “All for Integrity”, the CCAC deepens the society’s understanding of its functions as the ombudsman, encourages residents to file real-name reports, strengthens communication to facilitate evidence gathering, seeks different channels to enhance the transparency of its works and ensures the coexistence of transparency with the safeguard of the principle of confidentiality.

Secretary-General, Xi Jinping, highlighted in his speech at the 20^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in a separate chapter, the importance of the construction of the rule of law and the commitment to joint promotion of governance of the country in accordance with law and exercise of ruling and administration in accordance with law, as well as the fundamental concept of integrated construction of a country, government and society bound by rule of law with an aim to fulfil the demand of full observance of law, strict enforcement of law and bringing all offenders to account, which will certainly become the guiding ideology of the actions and the design of approaches of ombudsman’s work of the CCAC in 2024.

Under the policy of normalised prevention and treatment of novel coronavirus, the society has gradually and fully resumed its functioning. Therefore, it is foreseeable that the load of ombudsman work of the CCAC will become heavier in 2024. In spite of serious wastage and shortage of human resources, the CCAC will grasp the nettle and do the best to find the way. Keeping up the direction of policies and the effective work in the previous year, and under the framework of the 2^nd Five-Year Plan, the overall plans and goals for the year 2024 are as follows

1. Consolidation of confidence in administration in accordance with law: following the experimental measures taken last year to facilitate establishment of self-confidence of the administration, the CCAC will continue to observe the actions of administration or governance taken by public departments and entities when following up ombudsman cases. It will give timely recognition to the practices that are creditable so as to, in an active and positive way, perform the function to supervise competent departments or entities bestowed upon the CCAC by the law. As regards the suggestions or recommendations rendered by the CCAC, if the departments or entities refuse to accept them without justification, the CCAC will exercise the power conferred upon it by law to report the situation to the relevant superior, supervisory entity or the Chief Executive in order to promote the construction of the rule of law based on governance and administration in accordance with law.

2. Promotion of responsible complaints: over recent years, in order to promote the awareness of filing complaint responsibly in society and enhance the safeguard of the principle of confidentiality of cases, the CCAC has been contacting and communicating with interest parties or complainants face to face, during which it explained the follow-up progress and handling of the respective cases in details in order to strengthen residents’ confidence and trust in the earnestness and professionalism of the CCAC. At the same time, the CCAC has also been optimising the functions of the online complaint platform and the design of the internal case management system by providing complainants with online enquiry codes so that they may have direct access to the update on the follow-up progress of the cases. In order to enhance the effectiveness of case notification, the CCAC intends to introduce the function of SMS notification so that the real-name complainants may timely know the update on the follow-up of the cases through the online enquiry codes, whereby enhancing the development of awareness of filing complaints with real name and responsibility.

3. Supervision of legality of disciplinary procedures: the legal regime of public service stipulates that every competent department or entity has autonomy and independence in the commencement and running of disciplinary procedures against its personnel and the relevant decision making. Nevertheless, the lawmaker also empowers the CCAC to supervise the disciplinary procedures carried out by competent entities. It is clear that only with secure grasp of the disciplinary legal status of the relevant public departments can the CCAC carry out necessary supervision of the disciplinary actions, which shall accord with the principle of full observance of law, strict enforcement of law and bringing all offenders to account. This is the fundamental concept of construction of a country, government and society bound by rule of law. Therefore, in the “Integrity Management Plan” to be carried out by the CCAC in 2024, optimisation of follow-up on disciplinary procedures will still be one of the key tasks.

4. Implementation of the spirit of “Progression and Innovation”: in the handling of ombudsman cases, the CCAC has been implementing effective internal systems and permanent mechanisms, including all kinds of approaches and methods adopted for inquiries and comprehensive investigations, computerisation of case management, the “retrospective review” mechanism, etc., as well as optimisating these internal systems and mechanisms in a detailed way. All these actions are carried out day after day and year after year in a low-key way. Such persistence will continue to be reflected on every ombudsman case file with an aim to urge the relevant administrative departments to effectively solve the problems regarding governance and administration that concern the residents.

III. Publicity, Education and Community Relations

In 2024, the CCAC will carry out the promotion actions regarding the law on Prevention and Suppression of Bribery in the Private Sector and the law on Prevention and Suppression of Bribery in External Trade as planned in both the 2^nd Five-Year Plan and the promotion plan “All for Integrity”. Meanwhile, in order to foster a team of integrity in society of Macao in the long term, the CCAC will not only persist in starting integrity education in childhood but also intensify the promotion actions in schools. Integrity education targeting at young students will be enhanced in order to guide them through cultivation of values that uphold integrity and reject corruption and enable them to understand and abide by the law.

The key tasks are as follows:

1. Launching information programme about corruption prevention for young entrepreneurs; joining hands with professionals to build up system of integrity: the CCAC will launch brand new information programme about corruption prevention for young entrepreneurs and related promotion activities which enable young entrepreneurs and management of start-ups to know the law on Prevention and Suppression of Bribery in the Private Sector and the law on Prevention and Suppression of Bribery in External Trade, understand how to formulate sound measures for corruption prevention when operating and managing a company so as to reduce the risk of corruption in the company. In addition, the CCAC will organise more training courses and talks for professionals in different fields in order to enhance their awareness of corruption prevention and ensure that the professionals can set an example of integrity and incorruptibility.

2. Cultivating a new force of integrity comprising young people in Macao and broaden their international horizons: young people are an important force for social development. Over recent years, the CCAC has been proactively encouraging them to participate in integrity and honesty promotion actions and leading them to profoundly understand the importance of integrity building to social development. In 2024, the CCAC will organise a series of activities targeting at young people including:

   1. In order to enhance higher education students’ understanding of integrity building and policy formulation and broaden local young people’s international horizons, the CCAC will organise an event entitled “Meeting of State Parties of Model United Nations Convention against Corruption”, which enables higher education students to play the roles as representatives of different countries who will speak, debate and negotiate on international issues about integrity in compliance with the meeting rules with a view to encouraging the students to reflect on the policies of integrity, increasing their sensitivity to integrity of governance and broadening their international horizons.

   2. In 2024, the CCAC will organise the new “UNI Volunteer Service – Integrity Promotion Programme for Higher Education Students”, increase the number of higher education institutions that co-organise the programme and extend the period of the activity so that more students may participate in the integrity building in Macao in person and in a more profound way. The activity will integrate training into practice so that after completing a series of training sessions, the trainees may engage in practical work on integrity promotion, disseminate the value of integrity among their peers and realise their potential in the course of the practice.

   3. In order to stimulate young people’s critical thinking about the issues related to integrity, the CCAC will organise a speech contest, aiming to enable them to understand the importance of integrity to the society and individuals. The CCAC hopes that they can give full play to their innovativeness and courage in order to influence others to foster values of integrity and help promote integrity in society of Macao.

   4. The teenage ambassadors of integrity will carry out integrity promotion activities in schools in the first half of 2024. In order to continue the influence of the teenage ambassadors, the CCAC will also invite them to assist in more integrity promotion activities in schools and participate in the CCAC’s promotion work. By doing so, they will make further use of their function of “spreading the message of integrity” and form a new force for integrity building in Macao.

3. 20^th anniversary of integrity promotion and education taking root in the community: in 2004, the CCAC established the first Branch Office in Areia Preta in order to reach out to the community to carry out integrity promotion and education actions. The Branch Office in Areia Preta was then developed to be an integrity education base for primary education. Taking the opportunity of celebrating the 20^th anniversary of integrity promotion and education taking root in the community, the CCAC will co-organise thematic events with civic associations and schools, where the CCAC will review the development of integrity education and promotion together with residents in order to enable them to gain a first-hand understanding of the current situation of integrity promotion in the community and introduce new ideas to future integrity education.

4. Strengthening support for teaching staff regarding integrity education: in 2024, the CCAC will roll out training programmes on education of integrity awareness and honesty for schools, especially teaching staff, with a view to deepening their knowledge about the legal regime of corruption prevention in Macao and thus enhancing the awareness of integrity among the profession and enriching the quality of integrity education. In addition, the CCAC will launch mini-courses in collaboration with the “advisory group on teaching materials for integrity education” in order to provide teachers and parents with diversified teaching materials.

5. Making diversified videos to disseminate the message of integrity to the public through multiple channels: over recent years, the CCAC has put more efforts in making multi-media materials in order to widely promote the message of integrity to the public through the internet and social media and positive results have been achieved. Since the year 2024 is marked the 25^th anniversary of the CCAC, the CCAC will make a short film adapted from a real corruption case and release it to the public so that the public will get to know the development of integrity building in Macao. In addition, the CCAC will continue to create various types of multi-media contents and disseminate the message of integrity to the public through the internet and social media so that all strata of society may understand and abide by the law.

IV. External affairs

In 2024, the CCAC will continue to deepen the cooperation with the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, enhance the integrity building in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and proactively promote and collaborate on the formulation of legal regimes in the Greater Bay Area. Regular mutual visits are planned in order to exchange experience in law-enforcement and other works and join hands together to build a corruption-free Greater Bay Area. Meanwhile, regarding the construction of the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, the CCAC will explore how to deal with the problems concerning illegality and corruption under the relevant legal framework with a view to providing a guarantee of integrity on the path of stable and sustainable implementation of the “One Country, Two Systems” policy in the Macao SAR.

The CCAC will also continue to cooperate with China in the review of the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and strictly perform the duties as a member of various international and regional organisations by actively participating in the relevant meetings, conferences and workshops in order to jointly tackle the challenges brought by corruption that the world is facing and jointly construct a fair, just and clean society.

In addition, the CCAC plans to cooperate with the anti-corruption departments of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong by dispatching its personnel to receive training there with a view to enhancing their investigative ability and professional knowledge.

V. Optimisation of the operation and internal management of the CCAC

Following the submission of the bill of the Organic Law of the Commission Against Corruption of the Macao Special Administrative Region and the draft administrative regulation of Organisation and Operation of the Service of the Commission Against Corruption to the competent entity for analysis, the CCAC will maintain good communication and partnership with the relevant departments and entities in order to complete the legislative process as soon as possible and thus the CCAC may exercise its powers and perform its duties more effectively in the future.

Through the revision of the legislation, the CCAC hopes to implement the measure of sending investigators to monitor cases in person or carrying out inspection proposed in the 2^nd Five-Year Plan as soon as possible in order to fully exert its supervisory function and, at the same time, optimise the “Integrity Management Plan” by promoting corruption-free operation and management mode in the public and private sectors. In addition, the CCAC also hopes to improve its organisational structure and personnel system through the revision of the legislation in order to optimise its resources and operation.