Two civil servants allegedly defraud bureau over public housing

The Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) has revealed details of a case involving two civil servants who allegedly defrauded the Housing Bureau (IH) when applying for economical housing.

The two individuals, who were husband and wife, worked in the Office of the Prosecutor General and the IH respectively, and bought an economical unit in Seac Pai Van under the price of some MOP600,000.

In 2013, when they made an application to the bureau for economical housing, they deliberately concealed the fact that they had purchased a flat in Zhuhai, not long beforehand when completing the application form with intent to pass the assets test smoothly.

This means they allegedly committed the offences of document forgery and fraud involving relatively high value assets under the Penal Code, according to a CCAC statement.

The CCAC received the report early this year, which stated that someone had allegedly concealed the fact that they owned a property in Zhuhai with intent to deceive the IH in order to obtain economical housing.

At the request of the CCAC, the IH conducted an assets test again for the said application and requested the two persons to submit evidence concerning assets outside Macau.

The two suspects falsely declared to the staff of the IH that they did not own any property in Zhuhai.

Furthermore, they rushed to sell the property in Zhuhai and applied to the real estate registry in Zhuhai for documentation that would show that they did not own any property, so they could submit it to the Bureau.

During the investigation, it was also found that when the two civil servants declared their assets and interests in 2013 and 2015, they deliberately concealed their ownership of the said Zhuhai property in the declaration forms.

These acts also allegedly constitute offences of making false declarations.

The civil servants sold the property in Zhuhai and then applied for documentation to show that they did not own any property in order to cover up their illegal acts. However, through the collaboration and assistance mechanism with the Chinese mainland’s enforcement departments, the CCAC acquired information that the involved persons had owned and sold the property in Zhuhai.

The case has been referred to the Public Prosecutions Office for the next stage in the prosecutorial process.