Macau’s Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) is set to launch an investigation into the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau and its former director Fong Soi-kun amid allegations it had failed to issue adequate storm warnings due to concerns over its potential impact on the city’s gaming industry.
In an announcement released on Monday, the CCAC said it had instructed the Administrative Appeals Bureau to conduct a special investigation into the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau’s typhoon forecasting process as well as its internal management systems. It also named Mr Fong as being central to its investigations, adding that the results would be submitted to Macau SAR Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai-on and reported to the public in accordance with Macau law.
It follows a report by the South China Morning Post over the weekend alleging that Macau’s weather bureau may have delayed issuing a T10 storm warning – the highest warning possible – for last Wednesday’s deadly Typhoon Hato due to concerns over “the financial impact of closing casinos in the gaming hub.”
In its announcement on Monday, the CCAC also revealed similar concerns over the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau’s failure to raise a T8 warning before Typhoon Nida hit last August. The CCAC said it had received a number of complaints from members of the public at the time, but added, “Although a gross breach of legal provisions was not detected, the Commission Against Corruption noted that there were some problems in the typhoon forecasting procedures and in the respective criteria adopted by the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau as well as regarding the internal management of the same service.”
Pointing to its upcoming investigation of the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau, the CCAC said it “has also received a large number of complaints, adding that the typhoon forecasting of the Bureau had come into question.
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