Courts | Ho Chio Meng continues to deny charges

The Court of Final Appeal entrance

The trial of former top prosecutor Ho Chio Meng resumed on Friday at the Court of Final Appeal (TUI), marking his case’s seventh court session following a two-week recess that ended last Wednesday.

In this session, which lasted all day, Ho repeatedly denied several charges leveled against him.

During the morning, the accusation addressed charges related to contract outsourcing by the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for public relations, MP office maintenance and remote supervision services.

As discussed in previous sessions, Ho stands accused of establishing shelf companies to which he outsourced MP contracts, despite the fact that the MP had never received any services from these companies. 

Ho claimed that the accusations were unclear and that some of the services were not directly related to the chief prosecutor’s work.

He maintained that he had not appointed specific companies for contracts nor participated in contract outsourcing procedures, and had never benefited from contract awards.

One accusation against Ho refers to contract awards related to the MP’s coffee purchases, stating that Ho had reaped the benefits. Ho defended himself by saying “everyone was happy when they were drinking [the coffee], and then they charge me for crimes after [they] finished the drink.”

Ho said that the charges are harsh, unfair and based on insufficient grounds, and reminded the court of previous instances where charges were unclear and unsubstantiated. He pointed out specific statements such as “certain companies did not provide any substantial service” or “technicians do not have adequate professional skills,” for which further evidence was requested.

However, presiding judge Sam Hou Fai reminded Ho to only make statements based on his current knowledge, and said that the prosecutors will provide further evidence in subsequent court sessions.

In the afternoon, the court mainly focused on the MP’s payments to individuals who were not employed by the office during Ho’s administration.

Ho had allegedly paid 10 of his female friends, channeling the funds through two public relations companies. One friend, surnamed Wong, was allegedly paid MOP1.72 million worth of flight tickets and accommodation fees, including miscellaneous transport and tour expenses.

Ho denied this accusation, saying that the expression “female friends” did not reflect the reality of the situation. He added that the prosecution had purposely not used the term “miss” when addressing the women.

Ho admitted that he had made payments to Wong, but claimed that it was normal for the MP to pay individuals from outside the office for their services.

He cited the example of a department head of the Liaison Office in Macau, who visited Beijing with MP employees and had been paid accordingly by the MP. Ho voiced his belief that Wong’s payments had been incorrectly stated as MP expenditure.

Ho said it was impossible for a chief prosecutor to pay for his subordinates’ flight tickets or even mix non-MP staff expenses with MP payments.

He also noted that the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) had been investigating him since the city brought in new government officials.

Ho added that Wong was an English translator who had accompanied him to Dubai for an international conference. At the same time, Ho claimed, Wong also translated on behalf of representatives from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of China, as well as provincial-level chief prosecutors.

Justice Lai Kin Hong doubted that the MP had no translators of its own and suggested that China’s supreme procuratorate could also have required the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide translators.

Lai also noted that it was abnormal for the state’s prosecution office to require Macau to provide and pay for a translator. 

When Lai attempted to ask more questions, Ho complained that the trial had run all day and that he was tired. He said he no longer wanted to give answers and claimed that he was unable to continue with the proceedings.

The trial resumes this morning.