Top court overrules civil servant dismissal

Macau’s top court has upheld a middle court judgment overruling a government decision to dismiss a civil servant who viewed and/or printed property registrations 44 times, causing MOP330 in losses to the Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ). The civil servant had also allowed the owner of a realty agency to skip queues. The top court said the government had failed to prove the civil servant had benefitted from these actions or had otherwise damaged the government’s image. The court asked whether the damage was so significant that civil servants’ individual interests and rights could be sacrificed in the public interest.