A retired chief cashier was arrested on Wednesday at his home in the Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga neighbourhood on suspicion of stealing zodiac and commemorative banknotes worth over MOP 3 million between 2016 and last year from the bank where he worked.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong said the 59-year-old suspect is surnamed Kuok.
A 58-year-old, suspected of being involved in the case, is a retiree surnamed Cheang, who was taken to a police station for questioning yesterday. Chong said that Kuok was the chief cashier while Cheang was the department head of the bank. Both worked in the banking industry for more than 30 years and they were fired by the bank last July. Police have not named the bank involved in the case.
According to Chong, the PJ received a report from the bank last October that zodiac banknotes worth MOP 2.46 million and 20th Anniversary of Macao’s Return to the Motherland banknotes worth MOP 720,000 stored in the bank’s safe had been replaced by ordinary banknotes.
Staff discovered the deception when the Monetary Authority of Macao requested a banknote inventory report.
Chong said that Kuok was in charge of the banknotes safe. The PJ suspect Kuok concocted false sales records of the banknotes between 2016 and 2021.
Under questioning, Kuok refused to cooperate with the police, while Cheang told the police that he fully trusted Kuok’s daily work so he did not count the number of banknotes. The PJ are continuing their investigations into the case, as the stolen banknotes have yet to be traced.
Kuok was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office yesterday, facing charges of aggravated theft, document forgery and computer forgery, The Macau Post Daily reported.
