Since Beijing tightened control over its officials, the days when mainland civil servants would spend money like water in Macau’s casinos have gone forever, a senior official of China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate said yesterday.

Ye Feng, the director of supreme procuratorate’s department of foreign affairs, said on at the Fourth China-ASEAN Attorneys-General Conference in Macau that China’s central government had tightened the qualifications necessary for mainland officials to apply for passes to Macau on business trips. Officials who want to go to Macau for “personal reasons” are not allowed to go.

Even when officials who are permitted to go arrive in Macau casinos, the only thing they can do is to have a visit, Ye said. “Visit only, no touch,” he added.

The coordination system among judicial departments in the mainland, Macau and Hong Kong is very efficient, Ye said. Mainland judicial departments obtain important evidence via their Macau counterparts when investigating corruption crimes. Some suspects were deported via Macau to the mainland, according to Ye.

The supreme procuratorate has launched investigations into 33,668 cases of corruption or misconduct and other in-service crimes involving 40,041 people. Of the suspects, 2,736 were county-leveled officials or above. Six ministerial level officials were also involved.

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