Despite being cited as a poor example of transparency among publicly funded companies in the Macau Special Administrative Region (RAEM), the China-Portuguese Speaking Countries Cooperation and Development Fund has still not shared information about the entity responsible for its operations.
According to TDM Canal Macau, during the debate on the specifics of the new legal framework for publicly funded companies, several legislators raised questions about the lack of information disclosure regarding the establishment and operation of various publicly funded companies, with a focus on the entity responsible for the Fund – in which the RAEM government holds a 40 percent stake.
However, so far, no information about the company’s establishment has been revealed on the GPSAP platform, established in 2019 to analyze and study the functioning and management of companies whose financial participation is held directly or indirectly by the RAEM or other public legal entities.
Choosing Not to Disclose
According to current instructions for public disclosure of information by publicly funded companies, only companies where the local government holds an ownership stake equal to or exceeding 50 percent are obligated to disclose information regarding their organizational structure, shareholders, financial reports, etc. Companies with lower state ownership are free to decide whether to disclose such information, and up to now, the company responsible for the fund has not chosen to disclose any of this information.
The China-Portuguese Speaking Countries Cooperation and Development Fund was established in June 2013 with the aim of promoting economic and trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries through investment projects. The fund has a total capital of 1 billion US dollars provided by the China Development Bank and the Macau Commercial and Industrial Development Fund.
Former Chief Executive of Macau, Chui Sai On, inaugurates headquarters of the Development Fund for China-Portuguese-Speaking Countries Cooperation in Macau in 2017
According to information provided by the Macau Forum – the Fund’s supporting institution – the China-Africa Development Fund is responsible for managing the fund through a subsidiary in Hong Kong, with the management company responsible for its operations being formed by the China Development Bank and the Macau Commercial and Industrial Development Fund.
In 2017, Prime Minister Li Keqiang announced during the 5th Ministerial Conference of the Macau Forum the transfer of the Fund’s headquarters to the RAEM.
The headquarters relocation took place in June 2017, initially to the Business Support Center of the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), and later to the Complex of the Service Platform for Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries.
According to the fund’s board of directors, by 2022, around 4 billion had already been approved for investment in more than 20 projects to be carried out in Portuguese-speaking countries by Chinese private companies, covering diverse areas such as agriculture, industry, energy, infrastructure, and financial services.
Limited Information Company
Two publicly funded entities with a 40 percent public ownership each, linked to the Fund, are registered on the GPSAP platform, with information last updated in 2020. One of them, the China-Portuguese Speaking Countries Cooperation and Development Fund, indicated a P.O. box in the Cayman Islands as the current address of the company’s headquarters, a well-known offshore destination.
However, the provided telephone contact is based in Macau. The other entity, named China-Portuguese Speaking Countries Cooperation and Development Fund Limited, lists its headquarters as the 19th floor of the China Plaza Building and states its business purpose as ‘engaging in investment activities, exercising, managing, and disposing of share investments and investments related to shareholdings.’
Coordinator of the Office for Planning and Supervision of Public Assets, Sónia Chan
During the debate and voting on the new supervision framework for publicly funded companies held on August 8th, legislator Leong Sun Iok, for example, indicated that local residents want more details about public investments, how these funds are used, and what control authorities have over these companies.
The current coordinator of GPSAP, Sónia Chan, assured at that time that the new regulations have punitive mechanisms for situations like previously reported misuse of public funds, but emphasized that autonomous capital companies should maintain their autonomy.
“We must respect the autonomy of company operations. It is our principle not to control companies, but rather the capital. The fact that the RAEM is not a major shareholder or partner in companies does not mean that we will not supervise them. Through the parent company, we exercise oversight,” Sónia Chan stated in the plenary session. Three subsidiaries of the Fund have also not yet published any information on the platform, namely CPD Energy Investment Co., Limited, CPD Port Investment Co., Limited, and CPD Capital Co., Limited.”
