'Systemic issues hamper tackling of renovation graft'

The head of an independent committee overseeing the operations of the city’s anti-graft body said “structural issues” in the building management and maintenance sector have made follow-up actions on corruption complaints difficult.

The remarks by Bernard Chan, chairman of the ICAC’s operations review committee, followed a report submitted by the corruption watchdog to the independent committee investigating last year’s fatal fire at Wang Fuk Court.

The document revealed that the ICAC received about 240 complaints concerning building renovations and arrested 137 people between 2023 and 2025.

However, after prosecuting 24 people in 2023, it failed to lay a single charge in 2024 and 2025.

“There is clearly a structural issue within the whole building management and maintenance sector. With enough public support and the collective efforts between the government as well as the community, I think it can be addressed,” Chan told a press conference.

“But it still requires, perhaps, the work of undercover. There may be a need for undercover from ICAC to whistleblowing and everything else to help to find evidence.”

Chan also said public awareness has spiked since the Wang Fuk tragedy.

He said in the first four months of this year, renovation-related graft complaints surged by one and a half times from the same period last year.

Chan said the ICAC has doubled its staffing to handle the higher caseload.

Excluding election-related reports, the ICAC received nearly 1,800 corruption complaints last year, marking a 14 percent year-on-year decrease.

Seventy percent of the cases involved the private sector.

Besides building management and maintenance, the finance and accounting as well as construction sectors received the most complaints.

Meanwhile, complaints concerning government departments and public bodies dropped slightly compared with previous years.

Edited by Edmond Fong ...