Former Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) president Jackson Chang – Cheong Chou Weng – has been sentenced to five years in prison without probation on a number of charges.
Chang was found guilty of corruption, money laundering and abuse of power by Macao’s Court of First Instance in October 2020, after which he filed for a retrial.
After revisiting all the evidence, including Chang’s travel records, text messages between Chang and another suspect, Ng Kuok Sao – who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2018 as a result of the same corruption scandal – the court found Chang to have obtained money from Ng in return for leaking internal and confidential data to Ng.
Chang was held accountable for violation of duty to confidentiality, accepting illicit interests and abuse of power. His lawyer, Álvaro Rodrigues, said they will file an appeal, with the court barring Chang from leaving Macao and requiring him to report to the court regularly, Macau Daily Times reported.
Ng, who fled to mainland China, was arrested in Zhuhai last month and is currently serving his term in Coloane prison.
Separately, IPIM’s current president, Benson Lau Wai Meng, is understood to be leaving his post this week as his term ends on 26 May, and is retiring from the civil service. He was appointed the head of IPIM in May 2020, TDM reported.
