Graft watchdog further explains CPTTM case

The Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre (CPTTM) was notified by the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) last year that there had been misconduct in terms of employment.

Some disagreed with the CCAC findings. The Commission has just finished a supplementary investigation, of which the report was published yesterday. The Commission clarified certain misconceptions in the report, and added further comments about the case.

In the CCAC’s Annual Report published last year, the Commission claimed it had found irregularities and a lack of transparency concerning the recruitment and promotion of workers at CPTTM, in addition to the employment of a too high ratio of related employees, which would inevitably give rise to public doubts about nepotism. As of April 2017, 16 among the 101 CPTTM workers were in some ways related.

Afterwards, there was an article in the media somehow defending CPTTM, stating the existence of discrepancies between the reality, the CCAC’s comments, and public imagination.

Also disagreeing with the CCAC report was the Centre’s Director-General Shuen Ka Hung, who told the media that the Centre had conducted a review on all its employment records dated back to 1996. Shuen said 14 workers had been found related, but failed to identify if they overlap the 16 stated in the CCAC report.

The article emphasized that even though some staff members of CPTTM had filial and/or spousal relationship, it did not necessarily make the employment a breach or violation. CCAC explained in yesterday’s report that they had never “come to a conclusion […] that the employment of the related staff definitely contravened the regulations due to lack of objective information.”

Nonetheless, during the supplementary investigation, CCAC found documents proving an employee’s participation in recruiting his family member.

After all, the Commission recommended supervision be enhanced, while rules and regulations be improved.

On the other hand, the administration body of the WorldSkills International Competition has appointed two Macau residents as technical directors, the first time such a position has been offered to residents.

Vice Director-General Victoria Kuan and Manager Thomas Mak of CPTTM have recently been assigned to the positions, with the former overseeing fashion techniques and the latter website techniques. Staff reporter