Corruption watchdog accuses Policy Research Bureau of lack of transparency

The Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) today accused the Policy Research and Regional Development Bureau (DSEPDR) of lack of transparency and called for a “thorough review” of the Bureau’s recruitment process.

“The CCAC considers that the DSEPDR should undertake a thorough review of the staff recruitment procedure, (…) in order to prevent the occurrence of repeated abuses in the public procurement exemption system,” the CCAC said in a statement.

At issue are complaints from the DSEPDR employees themselves against the Bureau’s director, legal expert Mi Jian.

The DSEPDR is the result of the merger between the Policy Study Office and the China Interior Affairs Working Group and aims, according to Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On, to “effectively leverage” initiatives such as the New Silk Road, formally known in Beijing as ‘One Belt, One Road’.

Although the CCAC cleared Mi Jian of most complaints, including an alleged publicly-funded lease of a luxury apartment, the commissioner did not reject the practice of “acts of nepotism” by recruiting former students.

The CCAC noted that “then GEP and DSEPDR have in fact recruited a number of researchers on an individual contract basis, including the six workers mentioned in the letter of complaint, waiving public tenders”.

Of the workers concerned, “some were his students at the doctoral stage, others were recommended by former colleagues, and others came to know with Mi Jian during his participation in academic seminars,” he said.

In response to the CCAC report, the DSEPDR has issued a statement assuring that it will review its ‘shortcomings and resolve some of the deficiencies in its performance’.

In the same statement, the DSEPDR stressed that it collaborated with the investigation and provided a ‘large amount of relevant information about its work and personnel’.

The founding of the DSEPDR was announced by the Executive Council in August, as a body responsible for the study, monitoring and technical support related to public policy and regional development.

To date, authorities justified its creation on the urgency to “effectively seize” the opportunities brought by the Chinese ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative and the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area region.

The new leadership also aims to boost the “construction of Macau as a center and platform’ in order for the city to be actively integrated into national development,” authorities added at the time.

Prior to the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) in 1999, Mi Jian served as a legal expert at the Office for Legal Translations, according to the Government Spokesman Office.

From that year on he has served as a member of the Public Administration Reform Advisory Board and as head of the MSAR Government Policy Study Office.