PJ: Confirmed ex-Customs chief committed suicide

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has concluded that the death of the former director-general of the Macau Customs Services, Lai Man Wa, was a suicide, according to a press release by Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday.
The PJ quoted the prosecutor on the case as saying that all evidence pointed to Lai committing suicide. The prosecutor added in its report, which was filed with the PJ on January 5, that there was no evidence showing that the death of the chief official is related to any criminal activities.
The 56-year old was found dead in a public toilet near the residential Ocean Garden complex last October with slashed neck and wrists and a plastic bag enveloping her head, while a bloodied cutter knife and sleeping pills were in her bag. She is alleged by authorities to have committed suicide on the day her body was discovered.
The initial conclusion by the authorities, however, fuelled considerable public doubts. To dissolve such doubts, the PJ said in yesterday’s announcement that it had approached Lai’s family for approval to disclose the reasons for her suicide.
‘The [PJ] received a definite reply from the family of the deceased on January 15, 2016. [In order] to respect the family and the privacy of the deceased, the Judiciary Police has no right to announce the reasons for the suicide based on the law,’ the PJ wrote in the press release.
The announcement also revealed that the case’s prosecutor had decided to close the investigation into the case.