Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak pledged yesterday that the city’s public security forces will continue to improve the disciplinary supervision of their officers.
Wong’s remarks came after a Judiciary Police (PJ) officer was arrested last week for leaking information to at least three loansharking gangs about the police’s ongoing investigations into usury cases allegedly committed by the rackets.
Wong also said the discovery of the case showed that the Judiciary Police’s internal supervisory mechanism is effective for discovering illegal activities committed by its officers.
Wong made the remarks while speaking to reporters after attending the opening ceremony of yesterday’s Open Day of the Fire Services Bureau (CB). The one-day event took place at the bureau’s headquarters near Macau Tower.
The Fire Services Bureau is overseen by Wong’s public security portfolio.
PJ spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei announced the case about the suspected rogue officer on Friday last week. Lei identified the suspect as a 40-year-old surnamed Hong who joined the Judiciary Police in 2006. Hong is a senior officer in the gaming-related crimes investigation division. He had always been given “satisfactory” ratings in his regular job performance evaluations by his superiors, Lei said.
Hong was transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for further questioning after Friday’s press conference.
According to Lei, the Judiciary Police received a tip-off in January that a PJ officer had been bribed by a gang of loan sharks and had leaked information to the gangsters about an ongoing investigation into a usury case allegedly committed by the racket. The aim of the data leak was for the gang to evade detection by the police. The loansharking case was solved by the Judiciary Police in the middle of last month.
The Judiciary Police launched an investigation into the matter and identified Hong as the officer who leaked the details to the gang, Lei said.
According to Lei, the Judiciary Police also discovered through their internal supervisory mechanism last month that Hong had attempted to illegally gain access to the PJ database with the aim of obtaining investigative details about a string of usury cases. Hong failed to gain access to the database due to PJ’s internal procedures. However, Hong succeeded in deceiving a fellow officer tasked with investigating usury cases to give him copies of documents about several loansharking cases, according to Lei.
On Wednesday last week, PJ officers took Hong, who was on duty, in for questioning.
Lei said the officers suspect that Hong also leaked information to two other gangs about PJ investigations into usury cases committed by both rackets. Hong admitted that he had illegally leaked investigative details to the gangs but refused to reveal why he had committed the offences, according to Lei, who did not say how much Hong is suspected of having received in kickbacks from the gangs.
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak speaks to reporters on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of yesterday’s Fire Services Bureau (CB) Open Day at the CB headquarters near Macau Tower. Photo: MPDG
