The former head of the Housing Bureau’s independent checking unit said on Friday that there had been "systemic loopholes" in the way it monitored and inspected renovation works at Wang Fuk Court.

Lau Fu-kwok, who retired in February, told a hearing by an inquiry probing the devastating inferno at the Tai Po residential estate that the unit did not carry out on-site inspections prior to the fire in November unless it had received a complaint.

However, he denied that there had been a lack of oversight, saying the systemic failure came to light only following the inferno.

The committee’s counsel, Jason Yu, stressed that Lau had blindly followed Buildings Department manuals and guidelines without exercising critical judgement and asserted that he should be held responsible for the systemic failure.

While Lau agreed with the counsel that he should be held responsible for the systemic failure, he stressed the established practice was to rely on professionals to conduct on-site checks and report any safety hazards.

However, Yu said Lau should have been aware that violations would go unreported if contractors and professionals were to collude.

Committee member Rex Auyeung said the unit could easily have been replaced by a computer or artificial intelligence given Lau’s repeated mention of its adherence to the manual.

The fourth round of the hearing concluded with Lau ending his testimony on Friday afternoon.

Committee chairman Judge David Lok said the investigations over the past four and a half months had progressed better than expected.

He expressed his hope that the public would perceive the hearing as being "open and fair" and acknowledge that the committee was working to dig out the truth without fear.

Lok said the next round of hearing was scheduled to begin after the middle of June, as the committee waits for reports from expert witnesses.

In the meantime, he said, the committee would address its second terms of reference, which is to examine whether bid-rigging, corruption or irregularities occur in the tendering process for large-scale building maintenance and renovation works across the city.

Lok said the committee would base its assessment on a report to be submitted by enforcement departments no later than next Friday.

By doing so, it avoids the need for a case-by-case probe into every building tender in Hong Kong, which would otherwise require years of investigation and the summoning of hundreds of witnesses, he added.


Edited by Tony Sabine