In December 2016, when attending the hearing at the Court of Final Appeal due to the prosecution of a number of charges against him, the former Prosecutor General Ho Chio Meng pointed out that a few relatives of some officials were employed by the Office of the Prosecutor General. He went further that both the former Secretary for Administration and Justice, Florinda da Rosa Silva Chan, and the incumbent Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sónia Chan Hoi Fan, made phone calls to him and recommended the employment of their relatives by the Office of the Prosecutor General. Soon after Ho Chio Meng’s remarks were reported by the media, the CCAC received complaint letters. Therefore, pursuant to Law no. 10/2000, Organic Law of the Commission Against Corruption of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the CCAC carried out an investigation into the matter.
Employment of Roque Silva Chan by the Office of the Prosecutor General
Ho Chio Meng mentioned that Florinda Chan once phoned him and recommended him to employ her relative. It was found after investigation that the relative involved was Roque Silva Chan, the younger brother of Florinda Chan. Prior to his employment by the Office of the Prosecutor General, Roque Silva Chan had worked for a law firm for almost 20 years, where he was in charge of formalities of real estate transactions and clerical work. In September 1999, after being dismissed by the law firm, Roque Silva Chan was hired as a part-time worker by a trading company.
On 19th November 1999, Roque Silva Chan started his work at the Preparation Office of the Prosecutor General. As the Macao SAR Government was still not officially established at that time, the then Technical and Administrative Support Services to the Governor and Deputy Secretaries’ Offices signed a labour contract with him. On 12th January 2000, the assessor of the Office of the Prosecutor General wrote a proposal recommending that Roque Silva Chan be employed as the 3rd grade assistant technical specialist with 380 salary points under the contract for personnel outside the establishment. The proposal was approved by Ho Chio Meng on the same day.
With regard to how he had joined the Office of the Prosecutor General, according to Roque Silva Chan, he mentioned during a family gathering that he was laid off by the law firm and was interested in looking for a government job. Some family member then told him that he could try to apply for a job at the Macao SAR Government which was to be established shortly. Therefore, he sent a CV to the then Preparation Office of the Prosecutor General and he later received a notification for an interview. Roque Silva Chan said he was interviewed by the then Prosecutor General designate, who asked him about his past work experience.
Roque Silva Chan told the CCAC that his employment by the Office of the Prosecutor General was a result of his own application rather than the recommendation of Florinda Chan. Florinda Chan also said she had never recommended Roque Silva Chan to Ho Chio Meng and that she felt strange about Ho Chio Meng’s remarks at the court hearing. Also, Ho Chio Meng changed the statement he made at the hearing and said he did not remember the details of how Roque Silva Chan had been hired, including whether or not Florinda Chan had recommended Roque Silva Chan to him and what the reason was for hiring him.
Although Ho Chio Meng later became non-committal about his remarks at the hearing that he once received a phone call from Florinda Chan about the recommendation and the persons involved also denied it, the CCAC, upon investigation and analysis, believed it was difficult to completely rule out that the then Secretary for Administration and Justice designate, Florinda Chan, had recommended the employment of her brother Roque Silva Chan by the office of the Prosecutor General in the end of 1999.
While Roque Silva Chan said it was Ho Chio Meng that interviewed him, Ho Chio Meng said he did not do it and that he did not remember who had interviewed him. According to Roque Silva Chan, he only sent his curriculum vitae to the Preparation Office of the Prosecutor General at that time – he did not submit cover letters to any other government services. Also, he and Ho Chio Meng did not know each other before he was hired by the Office of the Prosecutor General. Roque Silva Chan only finished 9th grade of education at that time and the CV he sent had fewer than 100 words - one could hardly tell he excelled others in terms of academic knowledge or work experience. Nevertheless, the then Prosecutor General designate, who did not know him personally, allegedly interviewed him and hired him immediately. Obviously, there have been reasonable doubts in the incident.
Employment of Chan Hoi In by the Office of the Prosecutor General
Ho Chio Meng mentioned that Sónia Chan recommended her relative for a job with the Office of the Prosecutor General in a phone talk. It was found in the investigation that the relative was her elder sister, Chan Hoi In. Before joining the Office of the Prosecutor General, Chan Hoi In, having a diploma in administrative management, used to work for a civil association in Macao and her main duties were writing, event planning and venue decoration, etc. On 15th July 2008, the then Chief of the Office of the Prosecutor General, Lai Kin Ian, wrote a proposal which suggested employing Chan Hoi In as a 1st grade assistant officer of 2nd rank under the contract of personnel outside the establishment with 320 salary points. The proposal was approved by Ho on 21st July.
With regard to how she joined the Office of the Prosecutor General, Chan Hoi In stated that in mid-2008, she wanted to change a job and therefore submitted her cover letter and CV to some government services including the Office of the Prosecutor General. At the same time, she also registered with the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau for the database of potential candidates for recruitment of public positions. One or two months after the submission of her cover letter and CV, she received a notification from the Office of the Prosecutor General. Subsequently, the then Chief of the Office, Lai Kin Ian, had an interview with her, during which her kinship with Sónia Chan was not mentioned.
Sónia Chan stated that after knowing that her sister wanted to change a job and had already sent her cover letter and CV to various services including the Office of the Prosecutor General, in a phone conversation with Ho about works, she mentioned that if the Office intended to recruit new workers, she could recommend a candidate. Ho stated that Chan mentioned on phone that her sister was finding a new job and she wondered if the Office could offer her sister a suitable job. He added that Chan mentioned her sister’s matter when they were having a work-related talk.
Since the statements of all parties concerned are basically consistent, the CCAC considers that the case is substantiated: In mid-2008, Chan Hoi In submitted her cover letter to some government services including the Office of the Prosecutor General. The then Chief of the Office for Personal Data Protection (GPDP), Sónia Chan, mentioned it to the then Prosecutor General, Ho Chio Meng, in a talk on phone. Later, Chan Hoi In was employed by the Office of the Prosecutor General after an interview.
CCAC’s legal analysis on the cases of getting a public job on recommendation
Roque Silva Chan and Chan Hoi In joined the Office of the Prosecutor General under Ho Chio Meng’s approval in 1999 and 2008 respectively. Based on its analysis, the CCAC considers that since Article 19 of Administrative Regulation no. 13/1999, Organisation and Operation of the Office of the Prosecutor General, stipulates that the Prosecutor General may freely appoints workers as prescribed in the Regulation and the legal regime of central recruitment had not yet been established by the time, the relevant employment by the Office of the Prosecutor General did not violate the law.
As to whether the allegation about the recommendation was true, in spite of Florinda Chan’s denial, the CCAC’s investigation reveals that it is difficult to completely rule out the possibility that she has recommended Roque Silva Chan for a position with the Office of Prosecutor General. On the other hand, Sónia Chan admitted in the investigation that she had recommended Chan Hoi In for a job with the Office.
In accordance with Article 5 of Administrative Regulation no. 24/2010, Statute of Principal Officials of the Macao SAR, principal officials shall prevent conflict of interests and shall not make use of their official status directly or indirectly to seek personal interests, while Article 11 of Law no. 15/2009, General Provisions of the Statute of Leadership and Management, stipulates that individuals in the positions of leadership shall behave ethically so that their personal behaviours will not adversely affect the image of the Macao SAR Government or the services or entities they serve.
Florinda Chan’s position was the Secretary for Administration and Justice designate in 1999, and Sónia Chan was the Chief of GPDP in 2008. According to the CCAC’s analysis, in this period, the abovementioned stipulations had not been implemented yet. In other words, there was no specific law on the conduct of principal officials designate or leaders designate of public services. Even if it can be proved that Florinda Chan and Sónia Chan had made the recommendations, it was hard to apply the provisions about public servants’ obligations in execution of duties under the Statute of Personnel of the Public Administration of Macao to take disciplinary action against them.
The CCAC considers that although the employment by the Office of the Prosecutor General and Florinda Chan and Sónia Chan’s acts of alleged recommendation did not violate the laws at that time, due to constant optimisation of the legal regimes in the Macao SAR, more stringent regulations on behaviour and conduct of principal officials and leaders of public services and on methods of recruitment of public posts have been introduced. Since the acts of recommending employment by public services fell short of residents’ expectations of recruiting public servants in a fair and open manner, these type of incidents will definitely have negative impacts on the image of the Macao SAR Government. Therefore, the CCAC suggests the Macao SAR Government strictly supervise the law abidingness by officials at every level. In particular, they shall prevent conflict of interests in execution of public duties and shall not make use of their official status directly or indirectly to seek personal interests in order to avoid negative impacts on the image of the Macao SAR or the government services caused by their personal behaviours.
The CCAC has submitted to the Chief Executive the investigation report and the suggestions on optimisation of the accountability system for officials.