In August 2018, the CCAC received a complaint alleging some public servants’ mishandling of the placement of the greyhounds at the Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome Co. Ltd. Following the investigation carried out by the CCAC, it came to light that a division head of the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) had allegedly abuse his power in the process of the placement of the greyhounds and colluded with a public servant and a businessman to obtain unlawful economic advantage in legal acts. Suggested by the Public Prosecutions Office and approved by the Criminal Investigation Court, the division head has been suspended from public duties and coercive measures including prohibition on exit and regular reporting have been taken against all of the suspects.
The concession contract between the Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome Co. Ltd. and the Government expired on 20th July 2018. At that time, the then Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) was responsible for the handling and placement of the greyhounds. A division head of the IACM responsible for animal inspection allegedly abuse his power in the process of handling the greyhounds in attempt to seek advantage for an animal clinic in which he secretly had a stake. As a result, the clinic won a contract to provide medical care for and perform neutering surgery on over 500 greyhounds. In addition, without the approval of the IACM, the division head assigned his subordinates to lend the clinic the medical equipment belonged to the IACM. Subsequently, since the incident of neutering the greyhounds caused controversy in the public, in order to prevent escalation of the controversy, the animal clinic involved immediately stopped providing the services to the Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome Co. Ltd.
The CCAC also discovered that since July 2012, the division head had abused his power by assigning his subordinates to include a trading company in which he secretly had a stake in the list of suppliers in the processes of procurement of goods and services for the division, resulting in the company winning procurement contract over 120 times, involving over MOP8 million.
The IAM division head who allegedly abused his power is liable for imprisonment up to three years in accordance with the Penal Code. Moreover, the referred division head, together with an assistant officer of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau and a businessman, who were also the partners in the trading company involved, are suspected to commit the crime of unlawful economic advantage in legal acts and are liable for imprisonment up to five years in accordance with the Penal Code.