Four arrested for allegedly conning gov’t out of Covid subsidies with shell firms

Financial authorities have warned against any attempt to cheat the government out of subsidies aimed at helping cash-strapped businesses ride out the economic downturn brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, after a syndicate busted by the Judiciary Police (PJ) allegedly pocketed nearly MOP3 million (US$370,000) by opening shell companies.

PJ investigators today arrested a family of three and their friend on suspicion of running a syndicate that managed to swindle the Financial Bureau out of about MOP2.91 million in grants between February 2019 and September 2021.

According to the authorities, the suspects include a couple aged over 60; their 39-year-old son, a car salesperson and a 31-year-old property agent who founded upwards of 600 shell companies, with 113 of which having already been awarded grants that were supposed to go to low-income freelancers and small businesses in financial trouble.

Up to over MOP1.54 million worth of cheaques from the Bureau have been encashed.

However, the suspects claimed that the companies were founded to resell number plates for profits.

In the aftermath of their arrests, the Bureau warned that grant applicants would face legal consequences if they provided false information or fabricated documents in a bid to obtain public funding for dishonest purposes.

A follow-up monitoring mechanism is in place to keep watch over the funds to successful grantees, the Bureau stressed.

Authorities said that over 140 business operators had returned their grants to them after over 10,000 investigations, with nearly 57,000 business runners having been disqualified from the scheme of grants before applications began.