Amendment to tackle illegal currency exchange already submitted

A proposal to amend the law that would criminalize and severely punish those performing activities of illegal currency exchange has been already submitted to the government for further analysis and legal production, the Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, said. The official revealed the proposal during yesterday’s press conference concerning Macau’s most recent crime statistics.

According to Wong, crimes involving the illegal exchange of money “have long affected the security situation in casinos and the surrounding areas.”

“Several serious crimes have resulted from this activity, such as fraud, robberies, and even murders,” he said.

Wong confirmed that, following in-depth research, the Judiciary Police has submitted suggestions to the Legal Affairs Bureau on the feasibility of criminalizing illegal exchange activities. In particular, PJ is seeking to increase punishment for those who engage in such activities, as well as to afford greater surveillance powers to police authorities.

Wong said that while the new law has not yet come into effect, the police would continue joint operations with the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) to clamp down on related crime.

Illegal currency exchanges are known to operate inside and nearby Macau’s casinos. The unrecorded exchange of RMB to HKD, untracked by banking institutions or money exchange businesses, remains attractive to mainland gamblers.

According to Wong, some 9,633 people involved in this type of activity were intercepted in the first nine months of this year, a figure that represents a 230% hike, year-on-year.

Wong also noted that at least 1,013 of these people have been reported to DICJ. Offenders are included in the database of those banned from entering casinos.