Watchdog investigates corruption involving UM contracts

The corruption watchdog revealed a case of corruption and document forgery involving a construction works contract of approximately MOP 220 million for the University of Macau (UM).
According to the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC), the main suspect involves a then-administrative officer of UM’s Construction and Engineering Section of the Campus Management and Development Office.
In the process of awarding a residential college construction contract, the suspect assisted one of the tenderers in the preparation of tender, forged tender documents and participated in part of the tender evaluation.
Eventually, the tenderer was awarded the contract.
Subsequently, a newly established construction company, of which the then-administrative officer was one of the shareholders, was subcontracted by the contractor to carry out some of the works as compensation for the employee’s assistance in winning the contract.
The value of the construction contract involved was around MOP220 million.
In late June 2020, the CCAC received a report letter from the UM and subsequently placed the case on file for investigation.
The CCAC said that it discovered that the suspect participated in the project initiation proposal, the tender process, and the tender evaluation, but he never made any declaration of a conflict of interest, or applied to the UM for recusal.
“Familiar with the amount of the budget set by the UM, the suspect suggested the contractor involved set the price similar to the amount, assisted it in the preparation of the tender documents by using the computer of the university and falsely claimed that it had experience in carrying out two campus construction works for education institutions,” the CCAC explained.
In addition, the suspected also participated in the construction works involved.
In return, after winning the contract, the contractor subcontracted part of the works to a new company that was established for this contract and the suspect was one of the shareholders.
Following further investigations, the watchdog also discovered that the suspect unlawfully revealed the confidential data of other works of the university to another construction company and helped the latter win the contract for rain shelter construction offered by the university.
The case has been referred to the Public Prosecutions Office.