Ho Chio Meng
In a week packed with hearings from witnesses testifying in the case of the former Public Prosecutions Office (MP) Prosecutor-General, Ho Chio Meng, yesterday’s session was the third of its kind, once again exclusively devoted to the hearing of a single witness. This time it was Wu Kit I, the current Deputy Chief of the Office of the Prosecutor.
Wu, a witness listed by both the prosecution and the defense, was at the stand mostly to reply to questions from the prosecution related to the several accusations made against Ho.
The highlights yesterday morning were the references to the Teachers’ Resting Room, located on the 16th floor of the Hotline Center, as well as the microfilming works assigned to one of the companies owned by Wong Kuok Wai.
In fact, Wu started by explaining that she had discovered the venue where illegal acts are said to have occurred purely out of her own curiosity. This led her to discover the so-called “Teachers’ Resting Room.”
Wu stated that she was suspicious about a report from Chan Ka Fai that was a proposal to hire one of Wong’s companies to complete a job, as he had stated that the works being undertaken by MP staff were taking too long.
As Wu said, her suspicious led her to the 16th floor of the Hotline Center where she learned from the security guard that Lam frequently visited that area.
If that wasn’t suspicious enough, when checking the rental contracts of the floor, Wu said she found that of the ten units rented by the MP from five owners; two of them staff members of the MP.
Scrutiny of the other contracts led Wu on a trail of Wong’s companies. She mentioned, “three of them had the same address [located on the same floor] and even the same contact person and phone number, to which the MP was paying bills in the sum of about 1 million patacas a month.”
Wu also said that she was able to open the door to the “Teachers’ Resting Room” without possession of the keys. That finding led her to inform the current Prosecutor General Ip Son Sang of the situation.
Describing the location in great detail, including the size, materials, areas and qualities of the items found, Wu continued to explain what she saw there. Wu said she found what she insisted to be a “dining table” although acknowledged that on its surface was only stationary, a calendar, a calculator and a stapler.
The detailed descriptions of Wu were specifically noted in yesterday’s session since on previous occasions other witnesses had demonstrated a lack of memory.
According to Wu, while she continued to explore the area in the company of Ip, Ho suddenly arrived and claimed that all “these things belong to me” and said that he would remove the pieces from that place.
More findings were unearthed after Ip took office and, while planning to move his office location into the former Teachers’ Resting Room, found some “secret doors” that gave access to “secret bedrooms” and the sauna room mentioned in previous sessions of the trial.
During Wu’s explanation of her findings, Ho suddenly broke silence, disrupting the testimony of the witness by protesting the wording used by Wu in referring to the spaces, namely, “corruption or vice.”
The presiding judge then intervened and warned the defendant about such behavior.
The witness had initially seemed very clear on every detail when answering questions from the prosecution. However, when quested by the defense lawyers on some of those certainties, she changed her tone to “I’m not sure” and then, “I think it was…”
Eventually she even acknowledged that all the photos “I took” were in fact not taken by Wu, but from the Office head Tam Peng Tong and that the supposed talk with the security guard that led her on the trail of the Teachers’ Resting Room also never happened.
Answering the questions of the defendant’s lawyer, Wu was unable to explain how she managed to enter the space without keys and, as she remarked, “without breaking the entrance.”
“I just moved the handle a little and then it opened,” she said, however also acknowledged: “I can’t say it was easy, I can only say that I could open it without the keys.”
To the question of Ho’s lawyer, “Why didn’t you just ask for the keys?” Wu replied, “I don’t know!”
Then, in an afternoon dedicated mostly to an exhaustive review of photos and items found in the Accommodation Villa of Cheoc Van, the Prosecution tried to prove that Ho had made a personal profit for some 13 years by leasing a space that never served to lodge any foreign delegation or MP guests.
The witness also remarked that, over that long rental period, the MP had spent over MOP3 million in renovation and decoration works for the Villa on 25 separate occasions.
In the final part of her testimony, Wu explained how she had discovered several “illegalities” and unnecessary expenses managed by the MP under the helm of Ho, namely in the prices of 24 contracts with Wong Kuok Wai and Mak Im Tai companies that, according to the witness, went down at least 30 percent “after the MP started to attribute the jobs in a proper manner.”
“In some contracts the difference is as much as fourfold cheaper,” Wu said giving the example of the fire prevention service contract.
The session ended in a heated manner with some unusual problems between the witness and the defendant’s lawyers. Presiding judge Sam Hou Fai intervened to state that the defense is not following the rules and that is why they have been prohibited from asking questions.
On their side, the defense lawyers protested about the “time monopoly” given to the MP while they have been cut short after only two or three questions.
As has become customary, the session did not close before Ho once again took the chance to reply to the testimony presented.
This time he accused the current management of the MP of having selected for another tender a company that Ho claims also employs relatives of MP staff. He said that he had received a report days before his detention. The prosecution replied that Ho must prove what he claims.
The trial will resume today to continue to hear more witnesses listed by the prosecution.
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