A civil servant was arrested on Friday for stealing a consumption subsidy smartcard (known in Cantonese as “siu fai kat”) and using it to spend 456 patacas at the end of July and 22.90 patacas in early August, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Wong Wai Chon said during a regular press conference yesterday.
The 57-year-old suspect surnamed Tou works as a civil servant in a government office located in the city centre.
According to Wong, the female victim reported to the police on August 1 the loss of her son’s smartcard. PSP officers investigated with Macau Pass Co. and discovered that the lost card was used many times between July 29 and 30. Wong said the last transaction was made in a pharmacy in Rua de Fat San in Taipa. CCTV footage provided by the pharmacy showed that Tou used the stolen card. PSP officers intercepted Tou on Friday afternoon in Rua de Viseu in Taipa.
Under questioning, Tou admitted that she had picked up the card in Rua de Bragança in Taipa in July, and spent the card’s remaining balance of 456 patacas, and then topped-up the card (the second phase of the consumption subsidy amounts to 5,000 patacas per card), and then spent 22.90 patacas.
She discovered on August 3 that the card had been deactivated. Tou then used a paper shredder to destroy the stolen card in her office.
Tou has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a theft-by-finding charge.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows a PSP officer escorting the civil servant who used a stolen consumption subsidy smartcard to a PSP station.
