Li Canfeng, the former head of the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau, has had his sentence for graft and other financial wrongdoing reduced to 17 years by the Court of Second Instance, also known as the Court of Appeal.
Li and another former head of the bureau, Jaime Carion, were originally sentenced to 24 years and 20 years imprisonment respectively. However, the court’s ruling will see Li’s term cut by 7 years. Carion’s sentence remains unchanged as he did not lodge an appeal. His whereabouts are unknown.
Some businessmen convicted in the case will likewise see their sentences significantly reduced. Local media reports that Sio Ta Hong’s original sentence of 24 years has been reduced to 12 years. Meanwhile, Ng Lap Seng’s and Kuan Vai Lam’s sentences have been respectively lessened from 15 years to 4 and a half years, and 18 years to 5 and a half years.
[See more: Heavy sentences given to former public works chiefs Li Canfeng and Jaime Carion]
In Li Canfeng’s case, the court overturned the former civil servant’s conviction of belonging to a criminal syndicate, as well as some bribery and money laundering offences, arguing that Li was not yet a public servant during some of the transactions that the case investigated.
The case was initially overseen by Macao’s lowest court, which found 21 defendants guilty last November of a range of crimes from forgery to money laundering.
The sentence reductions can be overturned if the Public Prosecutions Office lodges an appeal to the Court of Final Appeal.
