Officials said on Friday they aim to criminalise bid-rigging by April as well as enhance enforcement through the establishment of an inter-departmental task force.

Competition Commission chief executive Rasul Butt said the watchdog would be consulting lawmakers over the proposed amendments “very soon” before seeking opinions from stakeholders.

“The government and, of course, the relevant authorities like the Competition Commission... will need to engage with some stakeholders,” he said.

“In terms of going to Legco to seek Legco's approval to pass the new amendments, the aim right now is April next year.”

The task force – comprised of representatives from the commission, the police force and the Independent Commission Against Corruption – will be led by Secretary for Security Chris Tang.

Tang said the fight against bid-rigging, currently only a civil offence, would be efficient and enhanced through the sharing of intelligence and databases by the task force.

“In fact in the past, our three different departments, namely police, ICAC and Competition Commission, we are all separately, vigorously investigating bid-rigging-related offences,” he said.

“But now we have a joint task force – we can share our intelligence, we can conduct more precise joint operations, and we can have more proactive elements in cracking bid-rigging activities.”

While Tang did not reveal how many members there would be in the task force, he stressed that setting it up would not require any additional resources.

He noted that under the coordination of the Home Affairs Department, task force members would attend owners' corporations meetings at high-risk buildings – meaning those with high project costs and a significant number of flats involved – to look for indications that bid-rigging might be involved.

However, Tang warned, the task force will also rely on intelligence, undercover operations and informers to crack down on malpractices.


Edited by Edmond Fong