MACAU: Macau will continue its battle to rid the city of corruption, outgoing Chief Executive Edmund Ho said Thursday, months after Asia’s gambling enclave was tainted by a major graft scandal.
Ho said the former Portuguese colony has worked to boost anti-graft laws in the wake of former Transport and Public Works Minister Ao Man-long’s imprisonment in April.

Ao was convicted on dozens of corruption charges including money laundering and bribe-taking and jailed for more than 28 years in a case tied to construction work on some of the city’s new gambling resorts.

“We are very confident we’ll have a big improvement in keeping the government clean,” Ho said during one of his last press conferences before he leaves office in December after a decade in charge.

“We have strengthened our legislation after the very unfortunate case of a senior member of government. There is no reason to believe this will be a case that will be repeated in the future.”
Ho has led the Macau government since it returned to Chinese rule in 1999 and he oversaw the liberalization of the territory’s gaming sector in 2002, leading to Macau overtaking Las Vegas in terms of gaming revenue.

Macau, which has a population of 550,000 people, has a separate legal system from mainland China and is the only place on Chinese soil where casino gambling is allowed.

But Chinese officials last year moved to limit the number of mainland visitors to the enclave amid concerns about corruption and social problems associated with gambling. Beijing has since relaxed those restrictions.

Ho also said Thursday that the city must diversify its gambling-focused economy by boosting its convention and exhibition business, while growing economic ties with mainland China and nearby Hong Kong.

“We have to diversify the economy and it’s something the next government will work on,” he said.

“But it will not be easy. It’s not just a question of making a few policies and then Macau will have a diversified economy.
“It will be a task probably for more than one generation.”
AFP