‘Justice in Macau isn’t, at this moment, in its best shape’ – Manuela António

Justice in Macau “isn’t, at this moment, on its best shape,” veteran lawyer Manuela António said, commenting on the current state of justice in the region, in reference to Ho Chio Meng’s corruption lawsuit.

The statement came on the sidelines of an event promoted by António’s law firm on personal data protection, which took place yesterday evening at the Auditorium of the Macau Lawyers Association as part of the firm’s 30th anniversary celebrations.

António was referring specifically to several problems; namely the delays, the lack of transparency and independence of the justice, as well as problems felt by the population, lawyers and investors.

“There are problems with delays and there are, in my opinion, problems with a lack of transparency and less independence especially in that which concerns the administration,” she said.

On the other hand, she mentioned that despite these issues, “there are no problems regarding corruption at justice level.” Their actual problems include a lack of resources, especially of judges. She highlighted the fact that there are also “some judges that lack competence and above all, lack experience.”

Another big problem the lawyer highlighted regarding the local judiciary system was the relationship between judges and lawyers.

“When I started to work in Macau, 30 years ago, relations between the judges and the lawyers were excellent and they had great mutual respect and recognition for one another. Today, this doesn’t happen. The doors of the judges are completely closed to the lawyers.”

António went on to say that “this is an example of how the justice system is not transparent [nowadays] because the justice and the judges do not need to hide from the lawyers.”

Regarding the Ho case involving the former Public Prosecutor-General, the lawyer said it was “surprising that he had time to commit so many crimes without anybody around him noticing. In fact, I don’t know how he had time to perform his duties, and I recall that he was never targeted with any critics for the way he performed for 10 years.”

Still on the same topic, she remarked that it is “regrettable” that Ho’s defense “isn’t given the same rights, not even the most basic rights. And, once more, this comes to prove what I mentioned regarding the inequality of treatment between the parties.”

Privacy law deemed outdated

The Co-coordinator of the Office for Personal Data Protection (GPDP), Vasco Fong, was present at yesterday’s conference on privacy protection. Fong stated that data facilitates the work and duties of many people and companies, but also “carries risks” in terms of “control over people.”

Fong remarked that the region’s current law comes from European laws, namely the Portuguese one, highlighting that “there are differences between Macau and Hong Kong [laws on the matter] since the regulations follow different philosophies.”

Other topics of concern included jurisdiction, since the GPDP can only deal with people or companies based in the region, and does not have the legal right to chase offenders outside Macau and the neighboring regions.

Fong also remarked that the matter has faced “constant changes over time,” adding that “such a dynamism” is related to the constant changes on the topic and to the need to include different kinds of data in regulations and laws worldwide.

On the sidelines, Fong admitted that the privacy law in Macau “is outdated and work is being done to review it.” However, he remarked that such a regulation “isn’t [a] great priority.”