Hong Kong housing secretary resigns as fire inquiry faults regulators over 168 deaths

Lee and seven senior officials bowed at the start of the news conference, the Associated Press reported. Lee said Ho should take political responsibility even though the inquiry found no personal wrongdoing on her part. She resigned on Oct. 28. Michael Wong will take on the housing post as well, DotDotNews reported.

The judge-led committee put the heaviest blame on the Housing Bureau's Independent Checking Unit, which shared supervision of the maintenance work with the Buildings Department. According to the report, as described by AP, the unit gave consultants and contractors advance notice of site inspections. Neither agency properly investigated repeated complaints about foam boards over windows or about whether the scaffolding nets were fire retardant. The Fire Services and Labour departments were also faulted. Lee ordered a three-month investigation into all four to establish whether staff neglected their duties.

The committee named the project consultant, Will Power Architects, and the main contractor, Prestige Construction & Engineering, as chiefly responsible. It also found registered contractors and professionals who were paid to sign statutory forms without doing any real work. The report traced the fire to a lit cigarette on a first-floor flat roof, citing evidence that workers smoked on site, including on scaffolding. Foam boards and non-fire-retardant nets helped the fire spread, and most victims died of smoke inhalation.

The government plans a law making bid rigging a crime and will set up a steering committee under the chief secretary to track reforms, the South China Morning Post reported. Separately, the two companies and seven people face criminal charges including manslaughter and conspiracy to defraud. Those charges are allegations that have not yet been tested in court.