The judicial year held its opening ceremony over the weekend, with President Justice Sam Hou Fai highlighting three recent cases as evidence of the judiciary’s competence, the Macau Daily Times reports.
The cases he mentioned involved Suncity, Tak Chun and two former chiefs of the former Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (since restructured as the Land and Public Works Bureau) – which all resulted in heavy prison sentences.
Sam noted that the fact three complex, serious cases were processed almost concurrently was “relatively rare in the judicial history of Macao.”
Prosecutor General Ip Son Sang meanwhile brought up the raft of serious charges made against senior public prosecutor Kong Chi – who recently had his first hearing at the Court of Second Instance.
[See more: A senior public prosecutor and three others have been charged with graft]
Ip said the the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) had been alarmed by the case, and was fully committed to combating corruption within its ranks.
“Any violators will be subject to [thorough] investigation and severe punishments,” he reportedly said.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, meanwhile, said that “a clean judiciary is the founding stone of a just judiciary” and that any judicial corruption must be punished “without any tolerance.”
Macao currently has 446 registered lawyers and 168 trainee lawyers – 14 of which will be eligible for registration this year.
