A former manager of a Swire Pacific subsidiary told a court yesterday that his colleague was 'very surprised' at how openly Macau's former public works chief, Ao Man-long, requested bribes for renewing a contract.
Frederico Marques Nolasco da Silva described Lionel Krieger's shock while testifying in District Court at the trial of Krieger and another director of the Swire Pacific waste services company, CSR-Macau. Da Silva, who is already serving a jail term for his role in the corruption scandal, said Ao called Krieger, twice in 2002 or 2003 saying he was 'expecting something' for renewing a government cleaning contract.
'Mr Krieger was very surprised how open Mr Ao was in talking about such things over the phone,' da Silva said. The contract was supposed to be renewed automatically in 2006, if the government was satisfied with the service, he said.
Krieger, 63, and James Tam Ping-cheong, 57, are accused of conspiring with da Silva between January 2002 and December 2006 to pay Ao with 29 million patacas to secure government contracts. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Ao eventually received only five cheques signed by da Silva's wife amounting to HK$7.37 million before his arrest in December 2006.
Examined by prosecutor Neil Mitchell, da Silva said he and Krieger had met Ao twice after the two phone calls. Ao asked Krieger at one meeting: 'Don't you know that presents are given for contracts?'