Senior Prosecutor surprised by call to return from unpaid leave

Senior prosecutor Kong Chi disclosed for the first time that his unpaid leave was taken to accompany his mother’s psychotherapy appointments, and that he had been surprised about being summoned from the holidays.

He also said that he had been residing in mainland China throughout the used portion of his leave. In addition, he said that he had tried to help his mother stabilize her mental condition, and he had no intention to flee, according to local media All About Macau.

His leave started on Feb. 7, 2022 and was set to last for two years. His last departure from Macau took place on Jan. 19, 2023.

When he was asked by the defense lawyer about the details of his unpaid leave, he said that he had been living in mainland China. In March, he said, he received a phone call and a letter from the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), summoning him to return to the MP within 48 hours. However, he did not honor the summons.

In explanation, the senior prosecutor said that he was at the time waiting for his mother’s psychiatric medications. Moreover, he could not locate his Macau ID. This is why he did not return to Macau.

Although not understanding why he was summoned by the MP, he felt embarrassed to seek help from his colleagues. Nonetheless, he said, he feared that once in Macau, he would be put under custody or prohibited from leaving Macau, and so would not be able to help his mother with medications. Even now he questioned how he should have dealt with the situation.

On the question as to whether he fled or not, he said that if he does not return to work after the official cessation of his unpaid leave, he should then be considered as having fled.

A recent hearing revolved around Kong’s financial situation.

The prosecution pointed out that a loan Kong made to Keong Iok Peng came with a condition that Kong’s brother, Kong Peng, be hired by Keong’s restaurant, and queried the reason for this.

Kong said that it was for his own protection, although in the end Keong had repaid the debt regularly.

The prosecution then questioned Kong about the large quantity of cash and jewelry in the latter’s safe. Kong explained that they were his entire savings, as well as money that his mother gave him.

Then, the prosecution went on to question him about the HKD710,000 cash in the safe, which far surpassed the threshold for asset declaration. Kong said that the sum was saved to exchange currency with Choi Sao Ieng, the second defendant.

In response to the prosecution’s request for evidence, Kong admitted that although he had hired lawyers, as a person under custody, there was not much that he could do. He said he had faced difficulty contacting witnesses because his phone was also held by police.

He added that before working as a prosecutor, he had worked in the legal translation office of the government and earned 485 salary points per month, in an attempt to explain the source of his assets. He hoped the court would be able to take this into account.

On his style of handling cases, Kong was asked by the defense lawyer about details and key evidence of several cases that he had archived. Kong said that he is a more relaxed type of prosecutor, meaning that without strong evidential proof, cases would not be brought to court. However, he claimed that he is also rigorous, as over 80% of the cases that were brought to court by him resulted in a conviction.