Corruption watchdog finds another case of customs misconduct

The Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) has reported to have uncovered a case involving a head of a division within the Customs Service (SA), who is suspected of having used the influence of the position to instruct subordinates to act in contradiction to the law and usual practice of the service.

Specifically, the senior public servant is accused of  favoring an employee of a certain transport and logistics company to facilitate the illegal importation of goods into Macau. Further, the same company was able to avoid being fined for such misconduct.
According to a statement from the CCAC, the division head would have committed the crime of prevarication as provided in Macau’s Penal Code punishable with up to five years of imprisonment.

The CCAC also stated that the investigation has been ongoing since the beginning of 2017, when an officer of the SA, of an undisclosed border checkpoint, discovered that a number of imported goods, to be collected by a certain logistics company, had not been declared in accordance with the law and therefore would have been unlawfully imported.
Although not disclosing the kind of goods in question, the CCAC said that at least some of those goods “could only be imported after obtaining a special license, in accordance with the rules of the ‘Foreign Trade Law’.”

The Office of the Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, has also issued a statement concerning the case stating “that the case reflects that the internal supervision of the SA and the work at the customs posts of Macau have problems that need to be dealt with.”

The Secretary emphasized that the case “seriously and undoubtedly undermines the authority and image of the work of the Customs Service, which is why all SA personnel should learn from this case and implement measures to improve their operations.” RM