The executive director of a local firm embezzled 766,912 yuan (958,000 patacas) from the company last year to pay off his personal debts.
He was arrested on Sunday when he re-entered Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Chan Fai said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The 53-year-old jobless suspect is surnamed Wang.
According to Lou, a local businessman reported to the Judiciary Police on March 5 that the executive director of his company had embezzled more than 766,000 yuan last year. The victim told the police that he and several shareholders planned last year to open a local restaurant. He hired Wang as the executive director to manage the restaurant’s decoration and equipment procurement. The restaurant’s accountant transferred a total of three million yuan to a decoration company as well as Wang’s personal bank accounts in the mainland between February and May last year.
Lou said the victim discovered that the restaurant’s payment processing equipment stopped working in August last year.
He called the equipment manufacturer to enquire about the issue and was told that the equipment had cost 28,000 yuan, while Wang had instead charged the company 51,900 yuan for it. The victim subsequently double-checked the prices of other materials and equipment with the respective suppliers and discovered that Wang had inflated the prices and pocketed the difference. The victim told the police that a total of 766,912 yuan was paid in excess.
According to Lou, PJ officers arrested Wang on Sunday when he returned to Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint.
Under questioning, Wang admitted to embezzling the company’s money because he owed debts in the mainland and therefore doubled the purchase prices so that he could pocket the difference between the real and the inflated prices. He told the police that he had used the money to pay off his debts. According to Lou, the Judiciary Police are tracing the whereabouts of the defrauded money.
Wang was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Monday, facing a fraud charge, according to Lou.
