The Secretary for Transportation and Public Works has declared as void the granting of a 3,633 square meter piece of land near the Carmo Swimming Pools, in Taipa.
The move came after taking into account a decision of the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) which proved its granting “involved the practice of a passive corruption for an illicit act crime from the former secretary for Transportation and Public Works”.
The case goes back to 2006, when Ao Man Long approved the lease, in very advantageous conditions, of the land near the Fernão Mendes Pinto Street, worth more than MOP22 million, to Companhia de Investimento de Fomento Predial Chong Ieng.
At the time, the company was represented by two of its administrators, Lo Chi Cheong – absolved in one of the many processes – and Tang Weng Hong.
However, the Companhia de Investimento de Fomento Predial Chong Ieng was linked to businessman Tang Kim Man who, according to Lo’s defense lawyers, was the “real boss”. Tang Kim Man, owner of Tong Lei – a company involved in many of the cases that led to the sentencing of Ao Man Long – was tried in absence by the Judicial Base Court and sentenced to 12 years and six months.

Favorable conditions

The land given by Ao to Chong Ieng was to be used for the construction of a commercial building and a four-storey public carpark. The contract also stipulated that the terrain would be leased, without public tender, for a period of 25 years, which could later be renewed.
The company had to pay a premium, in assets (the carpark would belong to the administration) and money, of MOP22.08 million.
In exchange, the SAR would get a 60 square metre lot – later changed to 50 square metres. This terrain was located in Travessa do Búzio, and was to become part of a public road and was worth MOP84,000.
The CFA considered as proven that Ao took bribes to allow this exchange, and based on the law which determines as void all the “acts which object is impossible, unintelligible or contitutes a crime”.
The decision was also based on the regime of nullity (article 123), and the Chief Executive anulled his own dispatch (May 17, 2006) where he homologated the Land Commission report of May 11 which was favorable to the concession request. The entire process was confirmed by Ao Man Long’s dispatch on August 30.

by Tiago Azevedo

Web of deceit

The latest installment in the trial of disgraced senior official Ao Man Long has heard allegations of nods and winks aimed at ensuring certain contracts went to favoured companies, and that the man at the top of the tree was Ao himself.
Senior officials came under pressure to place Pedro Chiang’s Sun Heng Civil Construction and Investment Company in first place in the points system for several public tenders, Ao Man Long’s trial at the Court of Last Appeals has heard.
Many testimonies to the Ao Man Long trial heard that the new sub-director of the Lands, Public Works and Transportation Department (LPWTD), Shin Chung Low Kam Hong, and the coordinator of the Infrastructures Development Bureau (IDB), Chan Hon Kit were among them.
The court also heard that the Sir Robert Ho Tung School sports pavilion and new building, the Vasco da Gama carpark and the Tap Seac area requalification, were all worked on by Pedro Chiang’s company, and all because the points system was altered.
The “changes” were allegedly imposed by the defendant Ao Man Long and orders reached members of the evaluation commissions through the disgraced former secretary himself or through Jaime Carion, director of the LPWTD. This much was guaranteed by six witnesses linked to the government department.
During a long session, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO) examined 12 witnesses, most of whom work or have worked in the LPWTD. The defendant has chosen to remain silent.

Common practice

The question of the points system alteration isn’t new and it was common practice during the former secretary’s time in office.
LPWTD workers obeyed orders from above, trusting Ao’s “good faith”. At the time, Ao told his subordinates that due to the economic recession, there was a need to increase the number of jobs and the evaluation should pass directly to him. The process was outlined by Jaime Carion in the third session of the trial.
The number of works, construction projects and land concessions reached 23. The majority were hotels-casinos, social housing, residences, public departments and sports venues.

Messengers

“I increased the points so that Sun Heng company would win the Vasco da Gama Garden carpark project”, said Lei Kuk Koi, superior technician of the LPWTD and member of the evaluating commission of that project.
Luis Leong, another superior technician at the LPWTD, declared that “the Infrastructures Department head (now a sub-director of LPWTD) said that the points system of the Tap Seac area requalification project had to be changed, in order to have Sun Heng win it.’’
One after another, witnesses confirmed Ao’s influence over final decisions on public tenders, using different messengers to deliver his instructions.
According to the now sub-director of the LPWTD – who at the time of the alleged offences was Infrastructures Department head – he received his orders from Chan Hon Kit, then sub-director of the LPWTD: “He told me to pay more attention to certain aspects that I might have overlooked. Indirectly, he told me to make sure that Sun Heng would win,’’ he said.

Taking orders?

The former sub-director and coordinator of the IDB since November 2007, stated that he got his indications from the former secretary through Jaime Carion. He defended himself, saying: “I never suspected a thing because it was an order from a superior.’’
A contradiction was left in the air when the division chief of the works project, Arnaldo Ung, recalled that when he was a member of the evaluation commission for the Sir Robert Ho Tung School sports pavillion and new building, he received indications from his superior, Lok Wai Choi, to place Pedro Chiang’s company in first place.
However, when Lok Wai Choi was called to testify, he swore that he had no participation whatsoever in the entire process.

by Alexandra Lages