Neto Valente accuses top judge of being ‘judge in his own cause’

The Macau Lawyers Association (AAM) president Jorge Neto Valente has accused the president of the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) and of the Council of the Judicial Magistrates (CMJ), Sam Hou Fai, of being “judge in his own cause.”
Neto Valente’s comments were made yesterday on the sidelines of the ceremony for the new agency contract exchange for the issuance of bank notes event, hosted by Bank of China.
Replying to questions from the media over a statement issued the day before by the CMJ, which publicly condemned previous statements from Neto Valente accusing Sam of violating Article 25, Number 1 of the Statutes of Judges and Public Prosecutors, Neto Valente said, “The Chairman of this Council [CMJ] is the same person as the Court of Final Appeal. What can they say?” hinting that Sam is trying to protect himself.
“They said that he [Sam] did not mention the case specifically but people are not stupid. People can see what he said and what he is saying now. He talked about the case and this is now allowed by law,” Neto Valente said. “They say that they hope the other judges would not be influenced [by my words. But I say] I hope the judges are not influenced by this negative example of the president of the TUI. I believe and trust the courts and the other judges. But don’t make people [look like] fools stating that he didn’t say what everyone saw and heard him saying with his own words.”
Neto Valente also reaffirmed that he did not misinterpret or misunderstand any of Sam’s words, assuring that what he expressed is the truth and that such facts are recorded “for anyone who wishes to review them.”
“It’s not me who affects the prestige of the courts. It’s this kind of statement that creates a very negative view in the society, which will not agree to this. I’m sure because I received a lot of support. […] The person that has to supervise is supervised. This does not make any sense to me and anybody else,” the president of the AAM concluded.
In a previous interview with TDM Radio, Neto Valente expressed the opinion that Sam’s remarks on the case relating to a sentence by the Court of Second Instance (TSI) to return part of a land plot in Taipa to the owners and pay compensation amounting to around 100 million patacas, in a case of expropriation that occurred 102 years ago, were violating the Code which states that judges must refrain from making any comments or statements relating to judicial cases.
Sam’s comments were made during his speech at the inauguration ceremony of the Judicial Year 2020-2021 last month.
Earlier, the veteran lawyer had noted that the violation was particularly relevant since the government had appealed from the decision of TSI to the TUI – presided over by Sam – which will now analyze the case to produce a final ruling.
In the statement issued by the CMJ late Monday evening, the supervision body that has the responsibility of overseeing the discipline of judges, public prosecutors, and other judicial staff, disapproved of the comments aired by Neto Valente, noting that he had, “distorted, misinterpreted and wrongly expressed the content of the speech of the president of the Court of Final Appeal, having misled most residents and harmed the public image of TUI, of its president and other judicial magistrates.”
Refuting the idea that Sam has committed any violation of the Code, they added that Sam’s remarks were not comments on the case but rather an example of the new organization of the judicial system, which adds new competences to TUI, has been producing good effects. The supervision body noted that “any common and average person” would not produce the interpretation of the statements from Sam the way Neto Valente did.
The CMJ also remarked that it expects that the criticisms expressed by the veteran lawyer would not influence the judges of TUI so they can continue “to remain courageous and impartial, to judge all cases independently, legally and fairly.”