The Court of Second Instance (TSI) has ruled on an appeal lodged by a Customs Service (SA) staff member who was dismissed in November 2016 by the Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, on suspicion of being implicated in a crime. The TSI has annulled the decision to apply the penalty of dismissal due to insufficient evidence.
The ruling by Judge Tong Hio Fong notes, “in a disciplinary proceeding, as in criminal proceedings, it is not for the accused to prove his innocence, but it is the responsibility of the disciplinary authority to prove the constituent facts,” adding that the decision from the security authorities was to institute disciplinary proceedings against the appellant without awaiting the outcome of the final decision of the courts, basing their decision solely “on the receipt of the accusation deduced by the Public Prosecutions Office [MP].”
In light of such facts, Fong writes, “such circumstance is insufficient to establish the facts attributed to the defendant in a disciplinary proceeding since he is yet to be tried in court to establish criminal liability.”
In a statement, the Office of the Secretary replied to the TSI ruling noting, “in 2012, it was found that the customs inspector was suspected of being involved in a prostitution racket. The SA, after learning about the case, immediately instituted disciplinary proceedings,” the statement explains, adding that throughout the investigation the suspect has remained silent, refusing to provide any explanation or justification regarding the case.
In that sense, “The Secretary for Security, based on the analysis of the accusation made by the Public Prosecutions Office, as well as the results of the disciplinary investigation of the SA and the information provided on the case by the Judiciary Police, applied the aforementioned penalty [to the worker],” against which the staff member appealed through the TSI.
In the same statement, the Office of Wong also noted the disagreement with the opinion expressed in the TSI’s ruling, holding, “a different understanding of the facts in the context of the assessment of the law,” which has subsequently led the Office to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal against the second court’s ruling.
Wong’s office also took the opportunity to affirm that the measures taken, with the consequent dismissal from duties of the officer of SA, came in light of “always rigorously instituted disciplinary proceedings” of the security forces “in accordance with legal provisions.”
This was with the purpose of “always guaranteeing that interested parties are treated with exactitude and impartiality during the process, for effective disciplinary management.”
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
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