MACAU: Macau’s first ever woman customs chief – whose body was found slumped in a public toilet on Friday – had suffered slash wounds to both her wrists and her neck, swallowed sleeping pills and had a plastic bag over her head, it emerged yesterday.
The Macau authorities have classified the death of mother-of-two Lai Man Wa as suicide by asphyxiation, but it is unclear if and when both a postmortem and toxicology examinations were carried out.
Details of how the 56-year-old died deepened the sense of shock in the city and prompted Macau’s secretary for security, Wong Sio Chak, to call a special meeting of customs staff to implement “emergency measures” to cope with what were described as “current matters being handled by the department”.
A key matter – in which Lai was closely involved along with Macau Chief Executive Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on – was ongoing negotiations with senior mainland officials over a historic expansion of the former Portuguese enclave’s maritime boundary.
Yesterday’s meeting also pinpointed the fight against illegal immigration as the target of the emergency measures. In a statement from his office, Wong said the meeting was also held to “help to improve the emotional condition of the personnel”.
Last year, Lai stressed that Macau’s economy could benefit from a successful expansion of its marine jurisdiction.
In December last year, President Xi Jinping announced while visiting Macau, that mainland China and Macau had begun talks to ensure the “delimitation” of maritime sovereignty.
Macau does not have jurisdiction over all of its surrounding waters. Government officials believe that the new scheme could promote diversification of the region’s economy, while also boosting cooperation with Guangdong.
Sources said Lai had appeared normal in the hours before her death and her behaviour did not suggest that anything was wrong.
She had been scheduled to attend a security meeting in Zhuhai at 4.30pm on Friday, the day she died.
Her death comes two weeks after a member of staff from the city’s Commission Against Corruption killed himself by jumping from the Dynasty Plaza building.
Lai joined the Public Security Force of Macau in 1984 and worked for the marine police the following year. Since March 1999, she had been given various leadership roles, including deputy director of the Marine Police Bureau and deputy director-general of customs.
She was appointed customs chief in December 2014 when Chui staged an unprecedented major reshuffle of has cabinet in a bid to meet challenges laid down by Xi to clean up the gaming industry and diversify its economy.
Xi called on the Macau government to find “greater courage and wisdom” to “strengthen and improve regulation and supervision over the gaming industry”.
His call came after a number of senior mainland officials had urged the city to diversify its economy, of which the maritime plan is a key plank.
The calls heaped pressure on Chui’s new cabinet to come up with concrete plans to reshape an economic model it had become too reliant on.
Lai’s death also came just days after Macau’s top gaming regulator stepped down after 18 years in charge as the industry suffers its worst financial crisis in decades.
