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Corruption in China
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Developer sought after no-show at trial of ex-Macau works chief

Martin Wong

Macau police are looking for developer Ho Meng-fai after he failed to show up at the Court of Final Appeal yesterday to give evidence in the corruption trial of former Macau public works minister Ao Man-long.

Mr Ho, owner of San Meng Fai Engineering and Construction Company, was ordered to appear on the seventh day of Macau's biggest corruption trial yesterday, but court officials and police could not trace his whereabouts.

'We still do not know where he is,' prosecutor Song Man-lei told the court.

Judge Sam Hou-fai asked police to keep looking for Mr Ho.

Ms Song added that the prosecution had also failed to issue court orders to about a dozen people on the witness list, including two Hong Kong residents, as they could not be located.

'We are not sure if they failed to get the order or not. We are checking,' she added.

The court allowed one of the witnesses to choose not to testify or give any statement as he was also a suspect in a crime.

The judge noted that there were about a dozen other people on the witness list with similar backgrounds. He urged the prosecution to notify the court of the crimes involved so that the court could decide if it would ask them to testify.

Contrary to testimony over the last two weeks, the court was told yesterday that Ao's former subordinates were not asked to re-evaluate ratings of bids for large projects.

Ao faces 76 counts of bribe-taking, money laundering, making false statements and abuse of power.

Antonio Jose Castanheira Lourenco, a former director of the Infrastructure Development Office, told the court yesterday he had never received any advice, directly or indirectly, to change his rating on a tender.

'I have never received such a message. The operation of our office was very independent. We assigned projects to companies that we believed were suitable,' he said.

Chao Wai-man, senior technical consultant at the same office, agreed.

'I have never changed any rating on bidding. I have never been told to do so,' he said.

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