Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On confirmed that the government has granted a 5.9 million pataca service contract to the Macau Association for Promotion of Science and Technology, which is headed by his cousin Jose Chui Sai Peng, for compiling general knowledge teaching materials for local primary schools, “according to the law and established procedures”.
The chief executive made the remarks on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of the new board members of the Macau Jiangmen Communal Society at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Jose Chui, an indirectly-elected lawmaker and urban planner by profession, is also a vice-president of the Science and Technology Council, a government-appointed advisory body.
According to an order by the chief executive, which was published in Monday’s Official Gazette (BO), the government will pay the money to the association over the next two years.
“The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau [DSEJ] has handled the whole project according to the law and established procedures,” the chief executive said. “My family has been in Macau for several generations. Macau is a city with a rather small population. Apart from my family, I have met quite a lot people since I started to work some 30 years ago.”
“However, you [reporters] need not to worry. As long as I am in this office, I’ll definitely keep the promise I made when taking the oath of office. We will definitely obey the law, be honest and clean when performing our official duties, and do our best to avoid conflicts of interest,” Fernando Chui added.
Meanwhile, asked by reporters about the contract before a meeting of the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) Follow-up Committee for Public Administration Affairs, Jose Chui said that no “transfer of benefits” had been involved in the deal.
“Everyone has been asking whether I have benefited [from the contract]. Compiling teaching materials, of course, is extremely important. Have I participated in the paper work [about the contract] as the [group’s] president? I believe that to be so,” Jose Chui said. “However, as the group’s president, I always participate in [the group’s work] on a voluntary basis, thus there hasn’t been any transfer of benefits.”
(Macaunews/macaupost)
