Since taking the helm of the owners’ corporation at her Hong Kong housing estate 12 years ago, Chan Wai-ling has received numerous reports of falling concrete, water leakage and other problems that should have been fixed during multimillion-dollar renovations a decade ago. “Whenever there is a typhoon, water leaks into our homes and damages the…
Hong Kong homeowners should be vigilant against handing over their voting rights to strangers, a property management professional and a legislator have warned, saying proxy harvesting remains a rampant threat to building safety amid a major corruption crackdown. The warning was made on Monday amid heightened scrutiny of building management after last year’s deadly fire…
Twenty-one people have been arrested in a crackdown by Hong Kong’s anti-graft agency on a triad-linked syndicate accused of manipulating renovation project tenders at two residential estates in Kwun Tong, with one contract valued at about HK$33 million (US$4.2 million). The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Friday that 15 men and six women,…
Hong Kong’s anti-corruption watchdog has arrested the current and former chairmen of the Wang Fuk Court owners’ corporation as part of an investigation into renovation works linked to the city’s deadliest fire in decades, the Post has learned. The owners’ corporation has come under heavy scrutiny after the contractors it chose were found to have…
A former Hong Kong government engineer was jailed for five years and three months on Tuesday for laundering HK$6.26 million (US$804,000) in illegal proceeds, having lived far beyond his legitimate income. The High Court heard that 60-year-old Zsa Sing-tak had also accepted a HK$40,000 bribe to favour engineering firms linked to a friend during tendering…
Within hours of the Wang Fuk Court fire, international news channels were broadcasting harrowing scenes of burning buildings and a community in chaos. Thousands were displaced, the death toll has, sadly, reached 160, and the city is still seeking answers. Hong Kong was thrust into the global media spotlight, drawing its most intense scrutiny since…
Hong Kong authorities and professional bodies have stepped up investigations into the city’s deadliest fire in decades and started taking disciplinary action against any parties found to have breached regulations, the Post has learned. The probes follow last month’s blaze at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court housing estate, which killed at least 160 people, including…
The consultant behind the renovation of Wang Fuk Court, the housing estate reduced to ruins in Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in seven decades, is to close down as experts warn the case highlights limited protection for flat owners under the city’s corporate liability laws. The Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies told the Post…
The investigation into a deadly fire at a Hong Kong housing estate has centred on the use of flammable material in the scaffolding that covered the residential blocks, officials said on Thursday. Police arrested three men from the maintenance firm responsible for the buildings on suspicion of manslaughter, while the city’s anti-graft agency said it…
The death toll in Hong Kong’s worst fire in seven decades climbed to 83 on Thursday as many remained missing and a grief-stricken city rallied as one with authorities, private companies, charities and ordinary folks donating hundreds of millions to the victims and their families. The towering inferno that tore through seven blocks at a…