The 2023 Annual Report of the Commission Against Corruption of Macao was published in the Official Gazette of the Macao Special Administrative Region today (12th June). According to the report, the CCAC proactively seized the opportunities in the wake of the revival after the epidemic and sought improvement in corruption fighting, ombudsman actions and promotion and education. The CCAC placed a total of 249 cases on file in 2023, including 102 corruption cases, 123 ombudsman cases and 24 mutual assistance cases placed on file at the request of law-enforcement agencies outside the region. In addition, there were a total of 387 cases which were archived or were referred to competent departments for follow-up for the reason that they did not meet the conditions to be placed on file.
In the anti-corruption area, in addition to detecting a case where an assistant prosecutor general provided illicit assistance to persons subject to investigations in criminal cases, the CCAC also investigated and handled some cases involving different security service companies. These cases involved crimes such as making false attendance records to defraud public departments, document forgery to obtain quotas on non-resident workers and corruption in internal management in the private sector. The CCAC also looked into and handled some cases involving untruthful clocking in and out of work by public servants. The CCAC, however, points out that it recorded a significant year-on-year drop in reports of cases of defrauding government subsidies which frequently appeared in various forms in the past. It believed that the growth of such types of cases was temporarily suppressed due to the strategies of encompassing vigorous crackdowns, system building, promotion and education.
As regards ombudsman actions, the CCAC, due to the handling of some cases, explored with the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau the proper interpretation of the legal regimes and regulations governing public services and continuously improved relevant systems through positive interaction with a view to seeking the best solutions together. In addition, the CCAC sustained its efforts in implementing the “retrospective review” mechanism and encouraged self-confidence of the administration by public departments. It added that a vast majority of the departments showed their attitudes of cooperation during the investigation processes concerning ombudsman actions, and were willing to carry out review and strive to optimise their work in order to complete the mission of accomplishing public interest with the CCAC.
In the area of promotion and education, the CCAC continued to carry out the long-term promotion plan entitled “All for Integrity” targeting young people and launched some integrity education activities of different themes. The CCAC also held a total of 605 seminars, talks and activities targeting public servants, employees of private entities, residents and students of higher education institutions, secondary schools, primary schools and kindergartens. Moreover, it proactively developed different promotion methods and channels to disseminate the messages about integrity. Regarding external exchanges and training activities, the CCAC successively organised delegations for external visits and participated in the work of implementation review of the United Nations Convention against Corruption via online or offline approaches. In addition, it received the delegations of counterparts from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and other countries and regions and actively sent staff to receive training in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong and to participate in online training courses organised by international and regional organisations.
The Annual Report has been submitted to the Chief Executive, Ho Iat Seng, in accordance with the Organic Law of the Commission Against Corruption of the Macao Special Administrative Region. Summaries of some of the cases handled by the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Ombudsman Bureau were included. The full text of the Annual Report can be downloaded from the CCAC’s website.
