CCAC detects a case of alleged document forgery by civil servants to defraud for economical housing

The CCAC has unveiled a case involving two civil servants who, when applying to the Housing Bureau (IH) for economical housing, deliberately concealed the fact that they owned a property in the Chinese mainland and finally acquired and lived in the economical unit. They have allegedly committed the offences of document forgery and fraud involving relatively high value under the Penal Code. Moreover, the two persons deliberately made false declaration when submitting the assets and interests declaration forms and thus allegedly committed the offences of false declaration (inaccurate data) under the Legal Regime of Declaration of Assets and Interests. The case has been referred to the Public Prosecutions Office. The two suspects, who were husband and wife, worked in the Office of the Prosecutor General and the IH respectively. In 2013, when they made an application to the IH for economical housing, they deliberately concealed the fact that they had purchased a flat in Zhuhai not long ago when completing the application form with an intent to pass the assets test smoothly. At last, they successfully defrauded the IH, passed the assets test and bought an economical unit in Seac Pai Van under the price of some MOP600,000. The CCAC received the report early this year which stated that someone had allegedly concealed the fact of owing a property in Zhuhai with an intent to defraud the IH for economical housing. At the request of the CCAC, the IH conducted an assets test again for the said application and requested the two persons to submit proofs concerning assets outside Macao. The two suspects, on the one hand, falsely declared to the staff of the IH that they did not own any property in Zhuhai. On the other hand, they grasped the time to sell the property in Zhuhai and applied to the real estate registry in Zhuhai for proofs that they did not own any property and submitted the proof to the IH, with an intent to evade the investigation of the CCAC and continue to own the economical unit. In addition, during the investigation, it was also found that when the two civil servants declared their assets and interests in 2013 and 2015, they deliberately concealed their ownership of the said Zhuhai property in the declaration forms. Such acts have also allegedly constituted offences of false declaration (inaccurate data) as stated in Paragraph 2 of Article 27 of Legal Regime of Declaration of Assets and Interests. In this case, the two civil servants concealed the fact that they owned a property in Zhuhai and acquired an economical unit allocated by the IH by fraudulent means. Upon knowing that the relevant department was carrying out an investigation, they thought that they were fortunate enough because the property was not located in Macao such that the local investigation department could hardly prove it. Therefore, they sold the property in Zhuhai and then applied for proofs to show that they did not own any property in order to cover up their illegal acts. However, through the collaboration and assistance mechanism with the Chinese mainland’s enforcement departments, the CCAC was able to dig up the information that the involved persons had owned and sold the property in Zhuhai. The truth was finally found out and the case has been referred to the Public Prosecutions Office for handling according to the law.