Witness statements published by Wang Fuk inquiry

The independent committee investigating November's Wang Fuk Court inferno published witness statements late on Wednesday from several key individuals who did not give verbal submissions during the public hearings.

The sixth and final round of evidentiary hearings investigating the deadly blaze, which claimed 168 lives, ended this month.

Among those who did not attend any of the hearings was Ho Kin-yip, who was at the time director of Prestige Construction and Engineering, the main contractor for Wang Fuk Court’s major renovation project.

Ho remains in custody after being charged with manslaughter and other offences last month.

In two witness statements, he denied allegations that Prestige had been involved in bid-rigging to win the HK$330 million contract for the major renovation project.

“It had always been the case that margins for such construction projects in Hong Kong had since been squeezed down to nothing, and the competition between us and other bidders had been extremely competitive, which is evident by the animosity between competitors [being] high,” he said.

The inquiry previously revealed that CCTV footage showed workers had smoked while on the job at Wang Fuk Court and heard that a lit cigarette butt was the most likely cause of the blaze.

Ho said Prestige had never “turned a blind eye” to smoking on the job by the company's renovation workers and imposed strict penalties on offenders.

“Usually, those workmen caught with smoking a cigarette [on] site will be [punished] with a fine of HK$2,000. This system is not a vain show. As far as I understand this rule is put into effect with [a] resolute hand and observed in practice,” he said.

The former Prestige director said some repeat offenders had even been dismissed.

However, he admitted that it was virtually impossible in practice for the company to supervise every single worker, in particular outsourced staff.

Hau Wa-kin, who's a director of Prestige charged earlier with manslaughter and other offences, submitted a witness statement as well.

Unlike Ho, he has been released on bail.

Hau said he had been unable to attend any of the hearings due to ill health.

The inquiry has revealed connections between Hau and four other bidders in the race for the renovation contract.

Hau stressed that Prestige's relationships with the four companies were “purely commercial and competitive in nature”.

“It is a common feature of the construction industry for contractors to be acquainted with one another or to have been involved in different projects together, given the nature and relatively contained scale of this field. My connections with these companies are entirely proper,” he said.

Peggy Wong, a Tai Po district councillor and former consultant to the management committee of the estate's owners' corporation, also handed in two witness statements.

During the hearings, she was accused by several Wang Fuk Court residents of helping to push the renovation project forward.

In her statements, Wong said she had never offered any advice on the selection of contractors, evaluation of submitted tenders or preparation of budgets for the project.

Wong also said she'd not heard of Hau or Prestige until after the blaze.

She denied allegations that she had intimidated residents or “knocked on doors flat by flat” to collect proxy votes ahead of two owners' meetings held on the project.

Wong said she had only collected proxy votes through legitimate street stalls, day-to-day community interactions and her office’s mail box.

She said she did arrange home visits to collect proxy votes but that they were only limited to a small number of residents she had known for a long time.

Edited by Edmond Fong ...