Former school heads accused of MOP20 million fraud

A former principal and former vice-principal of a private school institution located on the Macau peninsula are being accused of allegedly conspiring with a construction company to defraud the government of MOP20.38 million, the Judiciary Police (PJ) informed in a statement.
According to the PJ, the case dates back to March 2018 when the new principal became suspicious of identified irregularities and reported them to the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), who in turn informed the PJ.
During the investigation, the PJ investigators found that the school had applied for subsidies totaling MOP28 million, involving 582 projects related to courses and construction works between 2014 and 2016. Of these, only 61 had been completed. This fact was in contradiction to reports submitted by the institution to the DSEJ, in which it stated that all 582 projects had been successfully completed.
The PJ also found that, after receiving the subsidies, the school transferred the funds into a bank account of the construction company. From there, the funds were transferred to the personal bank accounts of the owner of the construction company and other companies operated by the same person.
On September 28, the PJ detained three out of the four people suspected of involvement in the case for questioning. This included the former vice-principal (a 51-year-old female), the owner of the construction company (a 49-year-old male), and his sister (a 40-year-old female), all of whom are local residents.
The former vice principal claimed to the PJ that she had been directed by her superior to submit the allegedly false reports to the DSEJ and receive the subsidies.
The owner of the construction company informed the PJ that the money received had been used in the school’s construction projects, justifying the transfer of money to different bank accounts as being for the purposes of tax avoidance.
His sister, the person involved in the transfer of money between bank accounts, told the police that she did not know about any illegal operations by the construction company. She added that she had performed all administrative work for the company following normal procedures and under the direction of her brother.
After questioning, the trio was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office yesterday.
The former vice-principal is being accused of fraud involving a considerably high amount as well as document forgery, while the owner of the company and his sister are also being charged with fraud involving a considerably high amount and money laundering.
The case is still under investigation, as the PJ is not aware of the whereabouts of the former principal, who is still at large.