Former assistant prosecutor-general Kong Chi was sentenced yesterday to 17 years behind bars for bribe-taking, malfeasance, abuse of power, breach of judicial secrecy and unexplained wealth amounting of 14 million patacas as well as other crimes.
The sentence was pronounced by the Court of Second Instance (TSI) yesterday afternoon.
Kong and three co-defendants stood trial for two months.
Two of the co-defendants, Choi Sao Ieng and Ng Wai Chu, were sentenced to 14 years and six years respectively. The couple are businesspeople who according to the trial colluded with Kong in committing a raft of serious crimes. The fourth co-defendant, lawyer Kuan Hoi Lon, was acquitted of all charges.
It took the five-judge panel two hours to read out the more than 400-page judgement.
The court ruled that Kong’s 14 million patacas in unexplained wealth would be confiscated by the local government.
According to the ruling, Kong, Choi and Ng tampered with a raft of multiple judicial cases for personnel and financial gain.
Based on the legal principle of “in dubio pro reo”, i.e., “in cases of doubt, then for the accused,” the court decided to acquit the four defendants of the charge of setting up a secret society.
Based on the same principle, the court acquitted Kuan of all charges, due to lack of evidence, the court said. After her acquittal, she is understood to have been returned to prison to formalise her release.
Court of Second Instance President Tong Hio Fong said that Kong, in his capacity as a senior prosecutor, had not only failed to perform his duties but also caused irreparable harm to Macau’s judicial organs and the fair administration of justice.
The Public Prosecutions Office (MP) is headed by a prosecutor-general and, currently, seven assistant prosecutors-general.
Tong also said that Kong abused his power for personal gain and, thereby, severely damaged the image of a fair and honest judiciary. Tong also said he hoped that his punishment would serve as a deterrent, adding that other judicial officials should take it as a warning to not waver in their original aspirations and adhere to their oaths to uphold judicial partiality when they took office.
The panel of judges also said that Kong showed a high level of criminal intent.
The case was announced by the Public Prosecutions Office in September last year when Kong and his three co-defendants were remanded in custody. At that time, Kong was on two-years unpaid leave that was slated to end on February 6, 2024.
During the trial, Kong steadfastly protested his innocence.
The defendants and prosecutors have the right to appeal.
Kong’s case is the most serious one that has beset the Public Prosecutions Office since February 2016 when Ho Chio Meng, Macau’s then prosecutor-general, was arrested and charged with about 1,500 crimes, the largest in Macau’s history. Ho’s charges included the setting up of a criminal organisation, forgery, fraud and money laundering. He was sentenced in July 2017 to 21 years behind bars and ordered to pay the Public Prosecutions Office 18 million patacas. He is serving his sentence in the high-security section of the city’s prison in Coloane.
As a general rule, according to Article 41 of the Penal Code, Macau’s maximum prison term allowed by law amounts to 25 years. Only in exceptional cases can it reach 30 years. Capital punishment and life imprisonment are banned in Macau.
A policeman looks on outside the Court of Second Instance (TSI) in Nam Van as lawyers gather outside the building after yesterday’s sentencing of former assistant prosecutor-general Kong Chi and three co-defendants. Unlike the other defendants, lawyer Kuan Hoi Lon was acquitted of all charges, based on the legal principle of “in dubio pro reo”, according to a statement by the Court of Final Appeal (Tui) last night. – Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
