A local businessman falsely claimed last week that he was the driver of a lorry involved in a traffic accident in an attempt to cover up for one of his employees, a non-resident worker who had driven the vehicle even though his work permit did not allow him to do so, a Public Security Police (PSP) spokesperson said in a regular press conference on Friday.
Another employee is facing a charge of aiding and abetting the perpetration of an offence, according to the spokesperson.
The three suspects comprise a 60-year-old local businessman surnamed Ip and two non-resident workers employed by Ip as deliverymen – a 45-year-old man surnamed Deng, and a 30-year-old man surnamed Mo.
According to the PSP spokesperson, Public Security Police (PSP) officers on patrol saw a lorry parked in Avenida Marginal Flor de Lótus in Cotai last Monday afternoon. The lorry’s front and a roadside fire hydrant were damaged.
The officers questioned Deng and Mo who were standing near the lorry but both denied that they had driven the lorry, claiming that their boss – Ip – had been driving the vehicle when it crashed into the hydrant. They also claimed that after the accident their boss had left the scene and later returned in a car to remove the goods from the lorry.
The PSP spokesperson said that the Public Security Police told Deng and Mo to go to a police station for follow-up investigation later last week, and Ip separately also went to the police station where he claimed that he was the lorry’s driver. After repeated questioning, Ip finally admitted that at the time of the traffic accident the lorry was driven by Mo and that he had merely tried to cover up for his staff as Mo’s employment conditions as a non-resident worker did not allow him to drive the lorry.
Deng, who was in the same vehicle, told the police that he had been asleep in the lorry when the accident happened and he didn’t know anything about the circumstances. Mo told the police that after the accident, he was worried that he would be held liable for the traffic accident, so he asked his boss to falsely claim that he was the driver.
The case had been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP). Ip and Deng face a charge of aiding and abetting the perpetration of an offence, while Mo faces charges of evading responsibility as well as illegal engagement in work beyond his officially approved job description, according to the spokesperson.
