Two former directors of Macau's now defunct Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) were today charged with bribe-taking and a string of other serious crimes such as criminal association, organised crime and money laundering, the Portuguese language channel of public broadcaster TDM has reported.
The report by Radio Macau identified the two ex-directors as Jaime Carion, who headed the bureau from 1998 to 2014, and Li Canfeng, who headed the bureau from 2015 to 2020.
According to the report, the case involves 21 defendants, among them prominent local businessmen William Kuan Vai Lam, Sio Tak Hong, Ng Lap Seng, and Miguel Wu Ka I.
The report said the four defendants have been charged with a raft of serious crimes such as criminal association, membership of a secret association (local legalese for a triad organisation), money laundering, document forgery, and bribe-giving.
Li, Sio and Kuan have been remanded in custody since last year.
Ng made international headlines in 2017 when he was convicted by a court in New York of bribing two US ambassadors. He returned to Macau last year after 34 months in jail in the US. He was released early on humanitarian ground. He had started his imprisonment after a host of unsuccessful appeals.
Carion is reported to live overseas.
