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Crime

2 bid-rigging syndicates ‘potentially linked’ to estate destroyed in Tai Po fire

At least two bid-rigging syndicates could be linked to the HK$336 million (US$43 million) renovation bid for a housing estate destroyed in Hong Kong’s deadliest…

By Samantha Johnson / March 26, 2026
At least two bid-rigging syndicates could be linked to the HK$336 million (US$43 million) renovation bid for a housing estate destroyed in Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades, a lawyer for the competition watchdog has said at the fourth session of an evidential hearing.

Lester Lee Hiu-leung, the Competition Commission’s executive director for legal services, also said on Thursday that the watchdog had not ruled out applying to the Competition Tribunal for damages from Will Power Architects Company and Prestige Construction and Engineering, the consultant and contractor for the project, respectively.

Lee said law enforcement agencies would investigate whether anyone had committed fraud by inducing residents to pick the HK$336 million proposal by Prestige, the most expensive among 57 options, for renovation works at Wang Fuk Court before the fire.

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“We hope the public will be patient with us,” he told a judge-led committee investigating the disaster.

He also told the hearing that Will Power and Prestige were not included in a formal complaint to the tribunal on Wednesday, which involved eight companies and 12 individuals for projects at 11 housing estates and buildings, including Wang Fuk Court.

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The commission had not ruled out the prospect that at least two syndicates were linked to the renovation project at the estate in Tai Po, he said.

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