Rui Cunha: Changes to Court of Final Appeal necessary

Cases of influence-peddling in the office of former Chief Prosecutor Ho Chio Meng weren’t evident, but defects in the way the case is being handled are, says Rui Cunha – namesake of the Rui Cunha Foundation and founder of C&C Lawyers – in an interview with Portuguese language radio broadcaster TDM on Saturday. “There were cases which we were involved in that we might have found strange, why certain positions were taken, why a certain severity in one case and leniency in other cases,” said Cunha. The former judge called these instances “options”, saying that “we can’t point out one case or another as revealing specific intent to delay or accelerate.” With regard to the case itself Cunha expressed sadness that “someone linked to law and linked to the whole judicial structure of Macau could be involved in problems of this type.” The lawyer believes that the case has not eroded the foundation of the legal system but the public perception and faith in the integrity of the system: “Normally we see in a judge a person who is ideal, an example to follow; by this measure, naturally, it affects the whole system.” Cunha also pointed out that there were certain aspects of the case which could benefit from review: “in terms of the circumstances in which this transpired,” he said, “there are aspects that can lead to more questions and foment a certain perplexity such as the […] fact that people in certain positions are being subjected to special jurisdictional conditions that do not permit an appeal.” Changes needed In Cunha’s view, for maximum accuracy certain changes should be made to the system itself, including to the Court of Final Appeal “as quickly as possible,” which he believes should have “at least” five judges instead of the current three, “so that in the revision (of cases) there can be divergent opinion.” He justifies this by saying: “No-one is infallible, especially judges.” Given Cunha’s experience as a judge, the lawyer appreciates oversight, saluting whenever “one of my decisions was rectified in a higher court,” he told the broadcaster. Cunha pointed out an ever-rising number of court cases and suggested a division of the Court of Second Appeal to help ease the pressure: division into three areas: “an area for criminal law, an area for civil law and an area for labour law.” The C&C founder believes that a complete system review of the judiciary structure is necessary but should be changed “only in the parts that are essential, not because of haste to change, not only for the satisfaction of being able to say that something new was done.” The lawyer also believes that all practitioners of law in Macau should be fluent in the two official languages or have a way to “understand and be understood in the other language they don’t know”. This necessity, he believes, comes from a need to understand the history and administration of the MSAR, in which “everything” was written and conducted in Portuguese, and a need to proceed into the future of the city, which for the most part is “gradually being conducted in Chinese.”