The Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) confirmed to the media on Saturday that it has received a letter from staff members of the Policy Research and Regional Development Bureau (DSEPDR) complaining about its director Mi Jian for his alleged nepotism in the recruitment of staff members for the bureau and other alleged offences.
According to The Macau Post Daily in its reply to local media queries, the anti-graft body said that it would handle the case in line with its established work procedures. The CCAC reply did not name Mi but mentioned his position as bureau director.
A number of local Chinese-language media outlets published news reports about the letter over the past few days, according to which copies of the letter have been widely circulated on the Internet. The media outlets which have published the reports include the Chinese-language newspaper Macao Daily News and Chinese-language online media All About Macau.
According to an All About Macau report on Saturday, the complaint was written by “staff members” of the bureau earlier this month. The letter listed 11 alleged offences by the bureau director.
The Policy Research and Regional Development Bureau was established in September last year resulting from a merger between the now-defunct Policy Research Office (GEP) and a working team under the Chief Executive Office (GCE) tasked with handling local matters related to the mainland.
Mi began to head the Policy Research Office in late June last year, succeeding Lao Pun Lap who retired from the public administration. Subsequently, Mi was appointed director of the bureau when it was established. Mi had been the principal consultant of the office since its establishment in 2011.
Mi obtained a master’s degree in legal studies from Xiamen University in Fujian province and an honorary doctoral degree in legal studies from Germany’s University of Freiburg, according to the Macau Official Gazette (BO)
According to the All About Macau report, Mi allegedly hired many of his doctoral research students as the bureau’s staff members by not going through the officially-required central recruitment process for public servants. According to the report, many of the hirees are mainlanders who are allegedly unqualified for their jobs.
According to the report, Mi is alleged to have deliberately banned some local staff members from conducting duties that they were capable of.
According to the report, Mi allegedly pretended to be respectful to the chief executive in face-to-face meetings but behind his back poked fun at him. He allegedly also called other principal officials and bureau directors names.
According to the All About Macau report, when commissioning other research institutions to carry out research projects, Mi allegedly often split a project into several parts so that it would not reach the officially-required minimum amount to invite bids for tender.
According to the report, Mi allegedly often violated the anti-smoking law by smoking in his office. The complaint pointed out that as the bureau uses a central air-conditioning system, Mi’s smoking habit affected all the other people working there.
The letter mentioned that someone complained to the Health Bureau (SSM) about the matter but to no avail.
There was no reported response by Mi to the complaint about him.(Macaunews)
