Hong Kong’s Competition Commission, Independent Commission Against Corruption and police arrested 50 people in a joint operation on August 26 and 27 over an alleged building-maintenance corruption and bid-rigging network. Investigators searched 39 premises, including contractors’ and consultants’ offices and suspects’ homes, and seized maintenance documents and accounting records.
The projects covered 27 estates and buildings across Hong Kong, with contracts initially estimated to be worth nearly HK$500 million. Authorities have not publicly identified all the properties involved.
The Competition Commission said the group allegedly issued participating contractors with price instructions, known as “homework”, during multiple tender exercises and manipulated bid amounts. The allegations also include bid-rigging, market allocation, price-fixing and the exchange of commercially sensitive information. The commission said intermediaries were allegedly used to work with another bid-rigging group and arrange for associated contractors to join some tenders, increasing their chances of winning.
The ICAC said the investigation began with a corruption complaint. It alleges that an engineering contractor used bribery to obtain major maintenance contracts, including by bribing engineering consultants and some members of owners’ corporations. The ICAC also suspects that the contractor concealed company conviction records in tender evaluation reports and divided major works into smaller projects to bypass procedures requiring owners’ approval.
The ICAC said three commercial and residential building projects in the Eastern, Wan Chai and Yau Tsim Mong districts were under investigation, involving contracts worth nearly HK$200 million. Some contracts that had not yet been awarded were intercepted. Separately, reports said the Competition Commission’s action covered 23 estates and buildings and contracts worth about HK$300 million, indicating that the authorities’ reported scopes were not identical.
Police arrested three men over allegations that 13 allegedly forged completion certificates were submitted to the Buildings Department for minor works in 13 residential units at an estate on Hong Kong Island between July and August 2022. Reports said the signature attributed to the registered inspector was allegedly made after the inspector’s death. The ICAC suspects some registered inspectors failed to perform their duties and referred the matter to the Buildings Department.
Police also raided three alleged illegal fishing-machine gambling venues in Kowloon said to be controlled by people with triad backgrounds, arresting 37 people. It was not clear from the reports whether all 37 arrests were included in the total of 50. The accounts did not state whether those arrested had been formally charged or report further developments in the cases.