Macau moves to freeze funds of jailed official
Nickkita Lau
Friday, July 25, 2008
Macau is seeking an injunction from the High Court to stop disgraced former senior official Ao Man-long and 12 others from getting their hands on hundreds of million of dollars in corrupt cash kept in bank accounts and safety deposit boxes in Hong Kong.
The move comes ahead of the expiry of a December 2006 restraining order imposed during the original joint Macau-Hong Kong anti-graft probe into Ao.
The Macau government wants the proceeds and assets to be frozen until the final determination of the injunction.
Ao and his associates have 39 bank accounts and two safety deposit boxes in Hong Kong and 91 accounts in Britain. It is not known if a similar application has been lodged with the British courts.
The Macau government said HK$401 million in corrupt funds is in Hong Kong and HK$236 million in Britain.
Three construction companies gave HK$236 million in kickbacks to Ao.
The Macau Court of Final Appeal issued a confiscation order on all of Ao's undue or unjustified wealth when he was jailed for 27 years in January for graft, money laundering, asset hiding and abuse of power.
The High Court is also being asked to declare that all the corrupt proceeds and assets belong to the Macau government.
The injunction also names Ao's still- at-large wife Chan Meng-Ieng, father Ao Veng-kong, younger brother Au Man-fu, sister-in-law Ao Chan Wa-choi and four shell companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.
