Hong Kong is expected to unveil plans to impose criminal penalties for bid-rigging on Thursday, as the government releases the final investigation report into the Tai Po fire that killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and senior officials will announce the proposed reforms and outline efforts to establish “administrative accountability” for the disaster, the South China Morning Post reported, citing a government source.
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The measures are expected to include changes to building maintenance procedures and substantially higher fines for contractors and professionals who breach the rules. A steering committee chaired by the chief secretary would oversee the reforms, according to the source.
The announcements follow an investigation into the November 26, 2025, blaze at Wang Fuk Court, Hong Kong’s deadliest fire since 1948.
Government to outline accountability probe
Thursday’s press conference will bring together senior officials responsible for coordinating government bureaus and ministers overseeing the relevant policy areas. Separate briefings on Friday will explain the measures in greater detail.
“There will be a formal announcement about a two-tier administrative accountability investigation that has been launched. Although the task force has yet to arrive at conclusions, there will be a timetable, and the investigation will not last long,” a source said.
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Sources previously told the Post that a special task force was being established under the Public Service Commission, the statutory body that advises the city leader on civil service appointments.
First-tier investigations address relatively minor problems and are handled by department heads. Serious or systemic failures, or cases involving permanent secretaries or department heads, trigger second-tier investigations conducted by the commission.
“The arrangement of hosting more press conferences aims to help the public better understand the measures, as they involve structural reforms,” the source said.
Following the blaze, Lee established an independent committee chaired by High Court judge David Lok Kai-hong to investigate the fire’s causes and systemic problems in Hong Kong’s building maintenance sector.
After 30 rounds of public hearings, the committee submitted its 12-chapter report to Lee last week. Authorities are expected to release a redacted version on Thursday.
Sources told the Post that the committee’s “incisive” final report singled out four government bodies for accountability.
One source said the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit should bear the greatest responsibility, as its inadequate oversight of renovation work at Wang Fuk Court had contributed to the death toll. The report did not, however, name any bureau secretaries in connection with the blaze.
Lee said earlier this month that the government would implement comprehensive reforms as soon as possible and pursue accountability based on the findings.
HK$336 million renovation contract raised questions
At the time of the fire, Wang Fuk Court was undergoing facade renovations required under the city’s Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme.
Suspicions of bid-rigging emerged after project consultant Will Power Architects was found to have secured its role at an unreasonably low fee.
The hearings also revealed that the consultancy gave Prestige Construction and Engineering full marks for its litigation record when assessing renovation bids, despite the contractor having been convicted 24 times of occupational safety offences between 2017 and 2023.
The scoring helped Prestige win the HK$336 million (US$42.8 million) contract.
Determining whether bid-rigging had occurred at Wang Fuk Court fell outside the committee’s terms of reference. But the Competition Commission told the inquiry that the case was a “textbook example” of collusion in which a consultant secures its role for a low fee before awarding the works contract to a connected firm.
The Competition Commission proposed criminalising bid-rigging following the fire to strengthen deterrence.
Bid-rigging cases under the Competition Ordinance are currently heard in civil proceedings, although breaches must be established to the criminal standard of proof. Related conduct can already attract criminal charges under other laws, including conspiracy to defraud.
Commission chairman and senior counsel Jat Sew-tong said in July that the watchdog was considering proposing a maximum prison term of 10 years for the new offence, up from seven years previously proposed. The expected announcement has not yet established what maximum sentence the government will seek.
The commission also called for other anticompetitive practices, including information exchange, market sharing, credential-sharing and phantom bidding, to be made criminal offences.
It said it was considering a “dual-track” legal framework, giving it the flexibility to pursue cases through either criminal or civil proceedings.
