Ao case’s suspect surrenders in Portugal

Being wanted by INTERPOL and a key suspect of the Ao Man Long corruption and money laundering case, businessman Pedro Chiang unexpectedly surrendered himself to the Portuguese Attorney General’s Office last month wishing to be tried in Portugal.
Chiang, born in 1956 in Cambodia, reportedly stayed in his birth place after the former transport and public works secretary was arrested by the Macau Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) for bribe taking and money laundering at the end of 2006.
His defense lawyer, Joao Miguel Barros, told Portuguese news agency Lusa last week that Chiang was prepared to face Macau’s extradition request, yet he hoped to face trial in Portugal.
It is believed that the verdict handed down by a Portuguese court is likely to be less severe than by a Macau court.
Despite there are mutual legal assistance agreements between Portugal and Macau concerning the obligations to assist in the arrest and hand over of suspects, they are only principle agreements and no concrete operational guidelines have been proposed.
In addition, Chiang holds dual Portuguese and Cambodian citizenship, and hence the hand over issue could be complicated, Lusa said.
According to Barros, Chiang entered Portugal legally and when he came forward to the Attorney General’s Office he had told them he had been wanted by INTERPOL and wished to be investigated and tried in Portugal.
INTERPOL and the CCAC have already contacted the Portuguese authorities regarding the matter, but the Public Prosecution Office of Macau did not yet receive any related documents, the Macao Daily reported.
If the Portuguese judicial authority decides to process the bribery and money laundering case, it will need to apply to the Macau SAR to transfer all the related court files and hand down the punishment based on Portugal’s Penal Code. As such, Chiang will also serve his sentence in Portugal.
Since there is no precise guideline concerning the hand over of suspects, even if Portugal agrees to transfer Chiang back to Macau for trial, it will take some time for the two places to discuss the actual arrangements, a local scholar said as quoted by the Chinese daily.
On the other hand, Prosecutor-General of Macau, Ho Chio Meng, said on Saturday that since the alleged bribery activities took place in Macau and the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) had “strong evidence” against Chiang, he believed that it would be “most appropriate” for Macau courts to handle the case.
Ho also said that at this stage the focus was not on the extradition but on whether the Chiang case should be tried in Portugal or Macau.
The 12 land grants, exchange of land parcels, and the changing of land use and planning projects involving Chiang all occurred in Macau, and hence the Prosecutor-General said it would be in line with the current practice of legal assistance if the suspect could face trial in the SAR.
The MP has already prosecuted Chiang and sent the indictment to the Court of First Instance.
Ho also said that the court is “very likely” to start the hearing shortly.
Apart from Chiang, Ao Man Long’s wife Chan Meng Ieng, and two other local businessmen Tang Kim Man and Ho Meng Fai are also being sought by INTERPOL on fraud and money laundering charges in Macau.