Tai Po fire inquiry: Gov’t lawyer says ‘deliberate cheating’ by contractors caused blaze and its rapid spread

“Deliberate cheating” by renovation contractors and professionals with oversight authority caused last year’s massive Tai Po fire and its rapid spread, a lawyer representing the Hong Kong government has told a public inquiry.

An independent committee investigating last November’s inferno heard closing remarks on Thursday from the government’s legal team, as well as lawyers representing nine residents of Wang Fuk Court. The complex was undergoing major renovation work when the blaze broke out, killing 168 people.

Jenkin Suen, a senior counsel representing the government, urged the committee and the public to differentiate the “direct cause” of the fire and the “regulatory responsibilities” of the authorities.

A 408-page submission by the government and a 24-page Chinese-language summary have been uploaded to the independent committee website.

“It is now clear that those professionals and contractors… have abused the system through a combination of deliberate cheating, conspiracy, collaboration, neglect, contraventions and non-compliance that directly caused the fire, its rapid spread, and the death of 168 people,” the government submission read.

The committee previously heard that the fire was most likely caused by someone smoking, while factors such as the use of non-fire-retardant construction nets and the creation of access openings at escape staircases had contributed to the rapid spread of flames and smoke.

Meanwhile, the failure of the fire alarms diminished residents’ chances of escape, the committee heard.

‘Mutually reinforcing wrongdoings’

Prestige Construction & Engineering, the main contractor behind Wang Fuk Court’s HK$330 million renovation project, was primarily responsible for the factors leading to the blaze, the government alleged.

Prestige’s “multiple acts of non-compliance, deception and misrepresentation across all five contributing factors were the direct and proximate cause of the hazardous conditions,” the government submission read.

Will Power Architects, the consultancy overseeing the renovation works at Wang Fuk Court, and one of its directors, Wilson Ng, failed to supervise Prestige and permitted its “wrongdoings to continue unchecked,” the government alleged.

Two fire safety contractors, China Status and Victory Fire, and Wang Fuk Court’s estate management company, ISS EastPoint Properties, also had varying degrees of responsibility in the lead-up to the fire, according to the government.

“These private-actor failures were not isolated or coincidental but formed a pattern of collaborative and mutually reinforcing wrongdoings,” it said.

At the hearing, Suen acknowledged that “systematic weaknesses” existed in the city’s regulatory regime over building renovation works, but said the system was established on the premise that contractors and professionals would act with integrity and competence.

“It exposes the system’s weakness in its reliance on professionals when facing deliberate conspiracy and fraud,” he said in Cantonese.

The lawyer said it would be “unfair” to attribute the fire to the government’s failure to detect wrongdoing in time.

Without naming any publication, Suen also claimed “some media reports” were “unfounded” and “unfair” to suggest the government was to blame due to the shortcomings of its regulatory regime.

Suen said the government had already proposed a raft of improvement measures, with a blanket smoking ban on construction sites coming into effect on Friday.

Residents appear unconvinced

Also speaking on Thursday, Jeffrey Tam, a barrister representing nine Wang Fuk Court residents, said many survivors of the blaze had suffered “unimaginable pain” by giving evidence to the committee since hearings began in March.

“At times, during the hearings, some witnesses had sought to shift the blame to other parties,” Tam said without naming anyone.

“The residents hope that the committee can restore the truth and bring justice to the deceased, while offering practical suggestions so that stakeholders will stop finding excuses,” he added.

Some Wang Fuk Court residents appeared unconvinced by the government lawyer’s submission after the hearing on Thursday.

“[The government] is the gatekeeper. If the regulations had been in place and followed, the Wang Fuk Court fire would not have happened,” Patrick Liu, a Wang Shing House resident, told reporters in Cantonese.

“[The government] should not have blindly trusted people when it comes to projects with huge financial rewards,” said Leung Ho-hin, who testified on the first day of the hearings, recounting his escape from the housing complex.

“The government has the ultimate responsibility in oversight,” he added.

The committee’s lead lawyer, Victor Dawes, is set to deliver closing remarks on Friday, the last day of the scheduled public hearings.