Proposal for a vote of censure to former CE and economy chief voted down

A proposal aiming to issue a vote of censure against the former Chief Executive, Edmund Ho, and the former Secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam in relation to the case of the loans to former local airline Viva Macau, has been voted down by the majority of the lawmakers of the Legislative Assembly (AL).
At yesterday’s plenary session of the Legislative Assembly (AL), lawmaker Sulu Sou opened the agenda by putting a final appeal to the chamber following previous rejections of the proposal by both the president and the Executive Board of the AL on allegations that such a vote was not within the authority of the AL.
After discussion, the proposal was voted down, gathering only three votes in favor from lawmaker Sou as well as lawmakers Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San.
The Executive Board of the AL noted by way of explanation that it was not a constitutional duty of the AL to censor governments and their officials, especially not former ones.
According to the conclusions of the AL Board, which were presented to the plenary by lawmaker Chan Hong, the “act of [censorship] equals a public reprehension of the government aiming to diminish and publicly criticize it,” something that is out of the scope of AL’s authority.
In its previous presentation of the justification note, Sou observed several other instances in which the AL had accepted to discuss and even approved the issuing of votes.
Chan refused this claim with the comment that while there were other occasions in which lawmakers proposed the issuance of votes, the only similar case occurred with lawmaker Agnes Lam who, back in 2017, proposed a similar vote regarding the actions of the former director of the Meteorological and Geophysics Bureau, Fong Soi Kun when Typhoon Hato passed through Macau.
“This proposal was also not accepted by the president [of AL] and the withdrawal of the proposal was recommended; a suggestion that the lawmaker accepted, showing respect for the AL and its hierarchy,” Chan remarked.
Of those voting in favor of the proposal, only Au made a vote declaration, noting his disagreement with the statement made that AL cannot censor the government.
José Pereira Coutinho, the only lawmaker who abstained, later explained that the reason he had done so was because he believes an investigation must take place to determine whether the officials were guilty of negligence, or whether there were other flaws in the process.
Coutinho reminded that this was the reason he recently proposed a hearing to the case, which was also voted down by the AL.
“The case of Viva Macau does not stop here. At least on my side, I will continue to try,” Pereira Coutinho said, adding that he will continue to send proposals seeking to hear the officials and ultimately find the truth.
The allegation of the non-assurance of the guilt of the officials was used earlier by lawmaker Chan to refute Sou’s proposal saying that the “Commission Against Corruption report does not conclude that the former CE and had any directly attributed guilt on the topic.” Chan reasoned that as a result, the AL cannot hold a vote to censor the former officials.