The Public Prosecution Office (MP) has charged 26 suspects with a string of crimes allegedly committed in connection with the illegal granting of residence permits for investors and professionals by the government’s Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) between 2010 and 2018, Rádio Macau reported on Thursday.
According to the unsourced report by the radio channel of government-owned broadcaster TDM, the suspects include former IPIM president Jackson Chang, also known as Cheong Chou Weng.
The report said that Chang had been charged with organised crime, corruption, money laundering, and breach of secrecy.
Chang has been remanded in custody since July last year. He was detained when he tried to leave Macau.
According to the report, Chang’s wife and daughter have also been charged.
Glória Batalha Ung, a former IPIM executive committee member, has been charged with abuse of power and breach of secrecy. Batalha Ung is also a former deputy secretary-general of the Macau-based Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries. She was allowed to return to work for IPIM last November as her bail conditions had meanwhile been lifted following her arrest last July.
According to the report, the former deputy chief of IPIM’s Residency Application and Legal Affairs Division, Miguel Ian Iat Chun, who later worked as a department chief for the Pension Fund, has also been charged.
According to the Macau Post Daily, Rádio Macau said that the other suspects include businesspeople, family members and people who benefitted from the illegal granting of residency permits.
The Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) discovered the racket in 2018.
The report did not say when the trial of the suspects is scheduled to start.
