The Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) has discovered that a prison guard received bribes from an inmate to smuggle forbidden items into Macau’s prison in Coloane.
The CCAC has also discovered that a former prison guard, who has meanwhile retired, had – when he was still working there –smuggled prohibited items into the prison for another inmate, but without receiving any bribes.
The anti-graft body announced the two separate cases in a statement yesterday.
The statement did not specify the kind of forbidden items smuggled into the jail.
Neither did the statement specify the number of occasions the two prison guards separately smuggled the items into the prison for the two inmates, and neither the duration during which they committed the crimes.
While the statement’s Chinese version did not identify the gender of the two prison guards and two inmates, its English version indirectly identified them as males by using “his” in the text.
Macau’s only prison is located on a hill above the hamlet of Ka Ho on Coloane island.
The still serving prison guard, according to a follow-up statement by the Correctional Services Bureau (DSC) yesterday, has been suspended from his duties for the time being.
After investigating, the CCAC statement said, the anti-graft body discovered that the still serving but now suspended prison guard, when he was on duty, took advantage of his position to smuggle prohibited items into the prison for the inmate, after which the inmate sold the items to his fellow inmates for profit.
According to the statement, the prison guard received at least 17,000 patacas in total from the inmate, through the latter’s wife, as bribes for smuggling the items into the prison for him.
The CCAC, according to the statement, also discovered that the former prison guard, who has meanwhile retired, –when he was on duty –smuggled prohibited items into the prison for another inmate, but did not receive any bribes.
In addition, the statement said, the former prison guard also helped the inmate and his family members exchange messages.
Meanwhile, the statement also said CCAC investigators also discovered that the still serving prison guard also convinced a family member and a friend to take the blame for his two speeding offences in attempts to evade responsibility.
The two prison guards’ cases have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation. According to the CCAC statement, the still serving prison guard faces charges of bribe-taking and document forgery, while the inmate who bribed this prison guard, and his wife, face charges of bribe-giving.
The family member and the friend who took the blame for the prison guard’s speeding offences, according to the statement, face document forgery charges.
The retired prison guard, the statement said, faces an abuse of power charge.
The CCAC has also notified the Correctional Services Bureau (DSC) of the two prison guards’ cases.
Great distress
Meanwhile, in its follow-up statement yesterday, the Correctional Services Bureau (DSC) expressed its great distress at the two prison guards’ cases.
According to the statement, the bureau has suspended the serving prison guard from office, and has launched disciplinary proceedings against him.
The statement also pledged that the bureau will comprehensively review its internal management and supervisory mechanisms with the aim of preventing similar cases from occurring again.
The statement reaffirmed the bureau’s zero-tolerance policy towards any illegal or disciplinary violations by any of its personnel.
This undated handout photo taken from the Commission Against Corruption’s (CCAC) website shows its branch office in Areia Preta district, located on the ground floor of the U Wa residential estate.
