According to authorities, the former lawmaker had been involved in a network that had been “colluding since 2022 with an anti-China organization located outside the MSAR, which has supplied a large amount of false and provocative information for public display abroad and online on social media.” Even after the law was revised in 2023, the suspect allegedly continued to supply defamatory material that supported the operations of these hostile groups.
Authorities indicated that investigations revealed Au Kam San maintained regular contact with multiple foreign entities with an anti-China profile, providing them with distorted information about the reality in Macau. These details were then amplified by affiliated media outlets “for propaganda and dissemination purposes, thus inciting hatred among Macau residents and even among people in various countries who are unaware of the truth regarding the Central People’s Government of the PRC and the MSAR government, disturbing the 2024 Chief Executive election in Macau and prompting foreign countries to take action against Macau.”
According to officials, a police operation conducted on Wednesday at the former legislator’s residence in the city center marked the culmination of “a lengthy investigation and accumulation of evidence.”
“There are strong indications that the individual, surnamed Au, was for a long time in collusion with external forces, collaborating in the collection or public dissemination of false or grossly distorted news, acting alone or jointly with those forces to incite hatred against the Central People’s Government, to provoke anti-China forces into taking hostile actions against the People’s Republic of China and the MSAR, and to disrupt the elections in the MSAR, thereby seriously endangering state security,” the police added.
A PJ spokesperson declined to give further details at the regular press conference held yesterday.
Au Kam San is allegedly being charged under Article 13 of the Law on Safeguarding National Security, which criminalizes “establishing connections with foreign entities for activities that compromise national security.” The case is now in the hands of the Public Prosecutions Office, which will determine the next procedural steps.
According to data available for consultation on the electoral rolls on the website of Portugal’s General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration (SGMAI), Au Kam San is listed as a “National Citizen.” PLATAFORMA attempted to obtain a comment from the Portuguese Consul-General in Macau and Hong Kong, Alexandre Leitão, but received no response by the time of publication.
Au Kam San served as a legislator in the Legislative Assembly for 20 years, until his retirement in 2021. He was also a leading figure in the New Macau Association for the Development of Democracy, which organized annual June 4th vigils in Senado Square for 30 consecutive years, until 2020, when they were banned by authorities citing the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2021, police escalated the ban on the June 4th gatherings to a national security level, describing the event as an incitement against the authority of the Central Government.
