Hong Kong's biggest bid-rigging crackdown: 66 arrested in two days over building repair contracts

Hong Kong police, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and the Competition Commission arrested 66 people in a joint anti-bid-rigging operation on Thursday and Friday (November 5-6), including 28 suspected members of a triad-linked syndicate that rigged tenders for building maintenance work. It was the first operation by the three agencies' newly formed joint anti-bid-rigging task force, and the largest crackdown of its kind in Hong Kong's history.

Six contractors and ten consultancies involved

Secretary for Security Chris Tang confirmed that the 28 suspects included directors and staff from six construction companies, ten consultancy firms, a property management company and an owners' corporation. Officers searched 78 locations, including the offices of engineering and consultancy firms and suspects' homes, seizing large quantities of documents and accounts relating to building maintenance projects.

The syndicate is alleged to have rigged tenders for at least 12 housing estates and industrial buildings by bribing owners' corporation committee members and using dummy registered inspectors and engineering consultants. About HK$100 million in contracts had already been awarded, with another HK$100 million in projects reportedly affected. Those arrested face suspected offences including fraud, forgery, conspiracy to defraud and offering advantages to agents.

Crackdown follows the Wang Fuk Court fire

The operation comes as Hong Kong tightens oversight of the building maintenance sector. The fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po last November killed 168 people — the deadliest fire in the city's history — exposing systemic problems in building safety and tender transparency, and the ICAC has since arrested several people over the estate's renovation works. The authorities have also set up a 24-hour hotline, 182 000, for residents to report suspected tender manipulation.

(Sources: RTHK, Bloomberg, ICAC.)