Macau’s former top prosecutor Ho Chio-meng was arrested and charged with fraud, gaining illegal economic advantage, power abuse and document forgery. The city’s Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) said that between 2004 and 2014, while Ho was Prosecutor General of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, he and former colleagues took at least MOP$44 million in kickbacks in return for awarding construction projects worth MOP$167 million. Ho held the top post from the territory’s return to Chinese sovereignty in 1999 until 2014, when he was seen as a possible challenger to Macau’s Chief Executive Fernando Chui. Under Portugal he also served as the CCAC’s Deputy High Commissioner.
Talking to reporters, the current CCAC Commissioner Andre Cheong said his investigation only concerned Ho’s alleged misconduct regarding tenders and did not relate to decisions about who to investigate while Ho was Prosecutor General. Lawmakers reacted with incredulity. “We do not believe that the judicial duties were not affected,” said the New Macau Association’s Jason Chao, before describing the alleged sums involved as “embarrassingly low” by Macau standards. “If you can bribe Ho with MOP$44 million then his official duties could be bought as well … The implication is just terrifying because what’s being compromised is the integrity of investigations.” President of the Macau Lawyers’ Association Jorge Neto Valente said the case, and decision not to look into Ho’s main duties as prosecutor, were “shaking society’s confidence in the legal system.”
The affair is the biggest corruption scandal to hit Macau since Secretary for Transport and Public Works Ao Man-long was sentenced to 29 years in jail in 2009 for taking bribes of more than MOP$32 million.
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