Hong Kong Deadly Fire Inquiry Enters Third Phase as Witness Testifies on Proxy Voting Issues

An inquiry into Hong Kong's deadliest fire in decades will commence its third set of public evidential hearings on Monday. The sole witness to testify on the day, Kong Cheung-fat, was re-elected into the owners' corporation management committee as a member in September in 2024, when chairman Tang Kwok-kuen was voted out and replaced by Tony Tsui Moon-come. Kong told the independent committee that the new leadership failed to take concrete steps to address the problem of proxy ballots when the owners' corporation held votes to decide on estate management matters. The practice had earlier led to the Prestige Construction and Engineering being voted in as the estate's renovation contractor, even though the company had allegedly put in the most costly bid. In the previous 14 sessions, the independent committee heard how the use of flammable renovation materials, the failure of fire safety measures and a lack of government oversight contributed to the disaster. Tsui, who was chairman of owners' corporation management committee at the time of the fire, said last Friday he had tried "in vain" to convince Prestige to use fire-resistant plastic sheets and ban workers from smoking on bamboo scaffolding. He said Prestige had insisted on using combustible styrofoam boards, citing a lack of legal requirements, while doing little to ban workers from smoking on site. The committee also heard accusations against Tai Po district councillor Peggy Wong Pik-kiu about her involvement in gathering residents' proxy votes ahead of the corporation's general meetings. The fire, the deadliest in the city since 1948, raged for 43 hours from November 26 at seven of the eight residential towers at Wang Fuk Court, killing 168 people and leaving nearly 5,000 homeless.