Building renovation graft complaints spike 1.5 times after Tai Po fire: ICAC

Building renovation graft complaints spike 1.5 times after Tai Po fire: ICAC Anti-corruption agency says it has doubled number of investigators to 100 to oversee such complaints Hong Kong’s graft buster has received more than 1.5 times as many corruption complaints concerning building renovation in the first four months of this year compared with the same period last year, following heightened public concern over bid-rigging after the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire. In response to the surge in complaints, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Tuesday that it had doubled the number of investigators to 100 to handle these cases. But Bernard Charnwut Chan, chairman of the operations review committee overseeing the ICAC’s work, denied that the agency had moved too slowly to tackle corruption in building renovation projects. “The ICAC definitely was not late to the party on the issue. In my years of involvement, building management and renovations have been sectors the commission paid close attention to,” Chan said. He was speaking alongside two other chairmen of committees overseeing the ICAC’s work on Tuesday, as part of an annual round-up of the agency’s work last year. Unlike other law enforcement agencies, the ICAC’s work was presented by chairmen of various committees set up to monitor the agency, rather than its own top-ranking officers. [Image text:] GAS CONIRO IOAC