Prosecutor accuses Kong’s colleagues of malpractice

The prosecution in Kong Chi’s alleged corruption trial has accused two of Kong’s Public Prosecutions Office (MP) colleagues of separate instances of malpractice.

Prosecutor Leong Man Ieng, who had testified at a hearing, was seen by Assistant Prosecutor General Kuok Un Man as having engaged in conduct that affected the MP’s image, local media All About Macau has reported.

Leong, replying to questions during her testimony, said she had forgotten details related to the topic. Though Kuok did not view her response as perjury, the practice might affect the MP’s image and violate the requirement of loyalty expected of civil servants.

Kuok has requested the voice recording of Leong’s testimony and plans to deliver it to the Prosecutors’ Committee for further investigation.

Kuok reported Chan to the court for alleged perjury and personal favoritism.

Several other MP officers have testified at the latest hearing, with two being or having been assistants of Prosecutor Coordinator Lai U Hou and Assistant Prosecutor General Kong Chi.

Kong’s assistant between 2017 and 2018, surnamed Chan, testified she had drafted indictments or notices of archive under Kong’s instructions. Decisions whether to press charges or to archive cases were made either by her or Kong, but Kong had ultimate discretion. However, she did not know if Kong had reversed any decisions because Kong would directly pass the updated documentation to the competent divisions.

When questioned by a judge if she considered herself as having crossed legal lines, Chan said she had no feelings about the matter because the same situation applied to other officers as well.

The witness also said some prosecutors would not attend interrogation sessions, which included Kong, who would only attend for “important” cases.

Another witness, Lai’s assistant surnamed Cheong, told the judge he was only working as an assistant when his superintendent told him to draft legal documents. To rationalize his drafting of legal documents, he said senior officials’ dispatches are not written by the officials.

Two judges, in response, said the drafting of legal documents is the responsibility of judicial clerks, which is a legal stipulation.