(Adds more details of sentence; background)
HONG KONG (AFP)--Macau's highest court Wednesday sentenced disgraced former minister Ao Man-long to 28 and a half years in jail after his second corruption trial, the judiciary said.
The Court of Final Appeal also confiscated his assets and ordered Ao, the territory's former transport and public works minister, to give the government back MOP41 million ($5.1 million) he had obtained illegally.
The Cable TV network cited judge Shum Ho-fai saying had there been no restrictions on length of sentence, Ao's total of 81 convictions would have earned him a prison sentence of 368 years.
The judge described Ao as a greedy man who "saw the law as nothing," the broadcaster reported. Shum also said Ao had damaged the credibility and reputation of the government in the southern Chinese territory.
Ao was first arrested in December 2006 by the Macau Commission Against Corruption, and prosecuted in a high-profile case that put the spotlight on the city's casino industry.
He was convicted of taking payments from contractors in return for giving them approval for construction projects in Macau, which has boomed in recent years on the back of the liberalization of its gaming markets.
The former Portuguese colony now takes in more gaming money than Las Vegas and has strived to shake off its previous reputation as a haven for corruption.
But Ao's conviction has cast a long shadow over any clean-up efforts, as the case touched some of construction work for high-profile casinos in the southern Chinese city.
Some of the people implicated in Ao's case are still on the run.
Interpol had put six of them on their wanted list in January this year, according to media reports. They included Chan Lin-ian, brother-in-law of the brother of Macau's chief executive Edmund Ho.
Chan's company, Shun Heng Construction, allegedly provided kickbacks to Ao over three public works projects it undertook between 2003 and 2006, reports said.
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Publié le 22 Avril 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones