Neto Valente | Ho Chio Meng case is ‘undermining confidence in the system’

Neto Valente

The arrest of the former Public Prosecutor General, Ho Chio Meng, “is undermining [the public’s] confidence in the system,” according to the president of the Macau Lawyers Association (AAM), Jorge Neto Valente.
Speaking on the sidelines of the court session involving the former director of Hotel Lisboa, Alan Ho [see more on page 7], the lawyer and president of the AAM said he had no doubts that the case involving Ho and other high-
ranking officials from the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) is “shaking” society’s confidence in the legal system.
“How do I know it shakes? Because it shakes my own [confidence]. If it shakes mine, it will also shake the [confidence] of other people,” Neto Valente told journalists. “I am seeing, unfortunately, situations that are almost sinister and others that seriously affect the image of the legal system of Macau and the judicial organization.”
Neto Valente also added that the rejection by the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) of Ho Chio Meng’s “habeas corpus” request is the “result of the system that we have. Although some people might suspect that instead of the ‘habeas corpus’ claim an appeal [against preventive custody would have been more effective], if such an appeal had been made, maybe someone would also think that a ‘habeas corpus’ [claim would have been more preferable], and nothing would have changed.” Neto Valente also affirmed that “the problem resides in the fact that the system has been addressed through individual cases only. It would be good if someone with a broader view were able to change the law.”
“I think what is more important is the fact that there is a gentlemen who is a magistrate without being a magistrate. It’s possible that Macau law should not allow people to occupy magistrate positions if they are not involved in the jurist profession,” Neto Valente added.
“This case laid bare the weaknesses of the system. What we get from all this is that there is no transparency in the system. What worries me more is his [Ho Chio Meng’s] work as Prosecutor General. I am more worried about the allegations of influence peddling, precisely because nobody is investigating it; the prosecutor is the president of the Magistrates’ Council together with four others, which has created a corporatization of these departments. It is not enough for people to be honest – they must look honest too,” he concluded.
Regarding the possible interference of political decision-making in judicial departments due to the Chief Executive (CE)’s nomination of lawmakers to perform functions in judicial organizations, Neto Valente believes that the two functions are incompatible, and that “politics needs to respect ethics.” Valente adds that “when a political decision is made, it should pass the message to society that the decision has ethical support, because if society thinks the decision is wrong, it is wrong, even if there is a law that allows it. Laws are made for the people who make them,” Neto Valente said, alluding to the appointment of Chui Sai Cheong to the Magistrates’ Council.