The CCAC has detected a case of passive corruption to perform illicit acts and illicit financial participation in legal acts allegedly committed by two staff members of the Transport Bureau (DSAT), one of them a chief. The case has been referred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP). Following the MP's suggestion, the Criminal Court immediately took the two public servants and a businessperson involved in the case into custody under the law. At the same time, other coercive measures including restriction from departure have been adopted against the three remaining suspects. A DSAT chief responsible for transportation management and one of his subordinates allegedly received a huge sum of illicit advantage and in return they conspired to help three management companies to get the short-term service contracts of public carpark management by manipulating the procedures of contract adjudication. Starting from 2012, the three companies have got over 60 contracts in total, accounting for around 70% of all public carpark management contracts in Macao in the same period and involving a sum totaling nearly MOP68 million. The two public servants have allegedly received bribes amounting to around MOP16 million. Moreover, they have also received other kinds of illicit advantages for a long time. During the investigation, the CCAC also found that the contracts stipulated that the management company should dispatch at least three security guards and one cleaner to the carparks to provide service. However, for a long time, the involved companies actually dispatched only one security guard to provide service in each of the numerous carparks managed by them. The two public servants of DSAT allegedly notified the companies of the inspection of the carparks in advance so that they could arrange personnel beforehand, making an illusion that the stipulated number of staff were working in the carparks pursuant to the contracts agreements. As a result, companies can thus reduce the recruitment of staff obtaining this way more profit. When CCAC staff arrested the involved parties, a total of MOP230,000 corrupted cash was seized at one of the public servant’s house. The case, together with the cash, has been forwarded to the Public Prosecutions Office. Considering that quite a large number of public carparks are involved in the case and for the purpose to assure the investigation and the following judicial procedure of the case will not affect the service and operation of the public carparks, CCAC has immediately liaised with DSAT so that it can adopt appropriate measures to ensure the public will not be affected in using the service of the carparks. CCAC has also urged the authority to improve the internal operation and supervision mechanism as soon as possible to plug the loophole.
