UM admin staff sentenced to 30 months jailtime as TSI amends sentence

The Court of Second Instance (TSI) has sided with the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) and amended a “too lenient” sentence handed to a former administrative staff from the University of Macau (UM) who is accused of several crimes related to construction works.

After a trial that took place at the Court of First Instance (TJB), the former staff member was handed a prison sentence of two years and three years suspended practice. However, the MP appealed the decision on the basis that it was too lenient in light of the man’s reported wrongdoings.

A bench of judges from TSI accepted the reasons argued by the MP and amended the sentence to two-and-a-half years in prison.

In the ruling, the TSI judges noted that the person had been convicted of forging documents of special value back in 2015 but that, as a result of his unlawful practices including the passing of internal and confidential information such as tender evaluation criteria, several other works were attributed to those involved in the scheme up to 2020.

He was found guilty of three counts of breaching confidentiality and abusing power, violating the duties and obligations of civil servants, causing losses to public interests or third parties, and seriously harming the reputation of public administration authorities, the fairness of the public project bidding system, and public expectations of public servants’ integrity.

Due to the nature and outcome of the crimes, the TSI upheld the appeal and awarded a harsher sentence.