The Macau Customs Service has decided to suspend an officer who was arrested in late 2016 for his alleged involvement in bogus credit card fraud after the Public Prosecution Office (MP) shelved the case in 2018, as it considered that from the viewpoint of disciplinary responsibility, the officer had “obviously violated the principle of uprightness” that security forces personnel are supposed to adhere to, the Secretariat for Security (GSS) said on its website yesterday.
When the customs officer, surnamed Chao, was arrested by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on November 30, 2016, he was the chief of a department of the Macau Customs Service. Chao’s appointment as the department’s chief was terminated on December 7, 2016 by Secretary for Wong Sio Chak, according to the GSS website.
Following Chao’s arrest, the Secretariat for Security released information about the case on its website. It has periodically updated its information on the case.
According to the GSS website, PJ officers discovered that Chao was involved in a counterfeit credit card gang that they busted in early 2016, before arresting him later the same year. Chao made five bogus credit-card transactions for the gang in March 2016, two of which were successful, according to the website.
According to the PJ announcement in December 2016 about the case, the police busted the counterfeit credit card gang in April 2016 when they arrested Chao’s sister (a boutique owner), two restaurant owners and five suspected gang members. The boutique owner and the two restaurant owners made over 100 bogus credit-card transactions for the gang involving 364,000 patacas, according to the PJ announcement.
According to the PJ announcement, a follow-up investigation discovered that Chao made five bogus credit-card transmissions in March 2016 at his sister’s boutique, two of which were successful, involving 12,000 patacas. Chao received 15 percent commission for each successful transaction from the gang, which was a total of 1,800 patacas, according to the PJ announcement.
The police arrested Chao at his office in the Customs Service headquarters in Barra on November 30, 2016.
According to the GSS website, the Macau Customs Service launched a disciplinary procedure against Chao after his arrest, and Wong terminated his appointment as the department’s chief on December 7, 2016.
The Secretariat for Security updated its information on the case on its website yesterday, according to which the Public Prosecution Office (MP) decided to shelve Chao’s criminal case of his involvement in the gang’s bogus credit card activities, on April 13, 2018, after the victims had decided not to file a criminal complaint against him.
The disciplinary procedure against Chao has now been completed, the GSS website said, adding that “however, in terms of disciplinary responsibility, his [Chao’s] conduct obviously violated the principle of uprightness [required for] security forces personnel”. Consequently, the Customs Service decided on May 4 to suspend him – as a customs officer. The website did not say how long the suspension will last.
Chao had appealed to Wong against the Customs Service’s decision to suspend him, the GSS website said, adding that Wong rejected Chao’s appeal last Thursday.
According to a Customs Service announcement published in the Official Gazette (BO) in December 2016, Wong terminated the appointment of Chao Chak Sam as the chief of the Intellectual Property Department of the Macau Customs Service on December 7, 2016.
