Widow of Macau anti-graft official questions probe into his alleged suicide
Wife of anti-corruption investigator who allegedly killed himself calls for further inquiries, saying workers under pressure
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 29 November, 2015, 2:52am
UPDATED : Sunday, 29 November, 2015, 3:01am
Raquel Carvalho
[email protected]
Iong Lap-meng allegedly jumped to his death from the Dynasty Plaza building, where one of the commission's branches is located, on October 15. Photo: Martin Chan
The wife of a Macau anti-corruption investigator who allegedly took his own life in October has sent a letter to the president of the city's Legislative Assembly, calling for a thorough investigation into the circumstances of her husband's death.
She also alleged in the letter that Commission against Corruption staff were working under "white terror".
Iong Lap-meng allegedly jumped to his death from the Dynasty Plaza building, where one of the commission's branches is located, on October 15.
After the incident, the commission conducted an internal investigation, which was concluded on November 6. But his wife, Pun Fung-cheng, is now raising questions about the procedures and lack of depth of the inquiry.
Pun criticised the fact that investigators questioned only three people inside the organisation, who were in contact with her husband in the week prior to his death. "Why weren't other persons investigated?" she asked.
"I suspect these people are hiding facts and giving false statements to keep their jobs," she told local newspaper Business Daily.
Pun said her husband was afraid of being arrested because he made a "mistake" at work. She said he was being investigated for "wrongful transfer of data", as he had allegedly kept documents about internal staff training on his personal computer.
"I believe that someone in the commission threatened him with prison or other consequences in the morning of the day he decided to commit suicide," she said.
In the letter, Pun claimed workers at the commission were currently under great pressure.
"After the death of my husband, I talked with many of his colleagues and all of them are very dissatisfied with management practices … They describe it as if they are working under 'white terror'," she wrote.
The Commission against Corruption issued a statement last week reiterating that Iong took his own life.
The report on an internal investigation was submitted to Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai-on on November 6.
It also said that "necessary psychological counselling" to staff had been provided.
The commission did not respond to Post inquiries.
On October 30, the body of Macau's first female customs chief was found slumped in a public toilet. Lai Man-wa suffered slash wounds to her wrists and her neck, had swallowed sleeping pills and had a plastic bag over her head. The Macau authorities said the cause of her death was suicide by asphyxiation. However, some in Macau have questioned this version of events.
Pan-democrat lawmaker Au Kam-san, for instance, told the local press that a woman with her knowledge could have chosen more immediate and simple methods to take her own life.
