Seven Individuals and Two Companies Charged by Police and ICAC with 25 Offences of Manslaughter, Conspiracy to Defraud, etc over Wang Fuk Court fire

Seven individuals and two companies charged by Police and ICAC with 25 offences of manslaughter, conspiracy to defraud, etc over Wang Fuk Court fire

The Police and the ICAC today (June 10) laid charges against seven individuals (five men and two women, aged between 33 and 60) and two companies with a total of 25 counts of offences, including manslaughter, conspiracy to defraud, “money laundering”, attempting to pervert the course of public justice and tax evasion in relation to the fire which broke out at Wang Fuk Court on November 26, 2025. The two cases were mentioned at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts this afternoon.

The West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, the West Kowloon Law Courts Building

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is highly concerned about the Wang Fuk Court fire, including the relevant criminal investigations. Following the disaster, the Police and the ICAC swiftly set up the largest joint investigation task force in recent years to conduct comprehensive investigations in full swing within just six months into the causes of the fire and possible corruption in the major renovation project of the residential estate, arresting a total of 35 individuals to date.

Following thorough investigations by officers of the joint investigation task force and legal advice from the Department of Justice (DoJ), the Police and the ICAC today laid charges against seven individuals and two companies with a total of 25 offences. The Police charged three men and two companies jointly with five counts of manslaughter. Meanwhile, the ICAC charged five men, two women and two companies (including the three men and two companies charged by the Police), with a total of 20 offences, including conspiracy to defraud, “money laundering”, attempting to pervert the course of public justice and tax evasion.

The seven individuals played different roles in the major renovation project of Wang Fuk Court. They include directors and Registered Inspector of the project consultancy firm, and directors of the main contractor. The two companies charged are the project consultancy firm – Will Power Architects Company Limited (Will Power), and the main contractor – Prestige Construction & Engineering Co., Limited (Prestige) involved in Wang Fuk Court’s major renovation project.

The Police’s prosecution list:

• Ho Kin-yip, then director and Technical Director of Prestige;

• Ng Yeuk, then director and Registered Inspector of Will Power;

• Wong Hap-yin, director of Will Power;

• Prestige; and

• Will Power.

The ICAC’s prosecution list:

• Wong Hap-yin, director of Will Power;

• Hau Wa-kin, director of Prestige;

• Ho Kin-yip, then director and Technical Director of Prestige

• Ng Yeuk, then director and Registered Inspector of Will Power;

• Hung Kwok-wai, friend of Wong Hap-yin;

• Chung So-fan, wife of Wong Hap-yin;

• Li Min, employee of Will Power;

• Will Power; and

• Prestige.

The Hong Kong Police, Photo source: reference image

The Police laid charges against three individuals and two companies with jointly five counts of manslaughter

On June 10, 2016, Wang Fuk Court received a statutory notice under the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme. In this connection, through respective tendering processes, Will Power was appointed for preparing a building inspection report and monitoring the repair works; Prestige was appointed for carrying out the prescribed repair works.

Following careful study of the case details and a comprehensive review of numerous documents and statements from parties concerned, the Police revealed that the companies and persons-in-charge responsible for the major renovation project are suspected of serious breach of duty of care, resulting in gross negligence in the supervision of construction materials and procedures. Investigation revealed that issues arising from the repair works include the use of non-fire-retardant safety nets and canvases; the use of flammable foam boards; and the creation of window openings at the fire escape routes of staircases for workers’ access to the external wall scaffolding. These construction arrangements are suspected of severely compromising the fire safety of the buildings, causing the fire to spread rapidly and obstructing escape routes, resulting in a large number of causalities.

The Regional Crime Unit of New Territories North of the Police is responsible for the investigation of the case. Following legal advice from the DoJ, the Police today charged the three men and the two companies jointly with five counts of manslaughter.

The first defendant, Ho Kin-yip, was then director and Technical Director of Prestige; the second defendant, Ng Yeuk, was then director of Will Power and Registered Inspector for the project; the third defendant, Wong Hap-yin, is the director of Will Power; the fourth and fifth defendants are Prestige and Will Power, respectively. The five defendants are suspected of failing to fulfill the duty of care in the supervision of the overall repair works, and ensure that the materials and work procedures complied with the safety standards or relevant legislations, resulting in the rapid spread of fire and severe casualties.

ICAC, Photo by Bastille Post

The ICAC laid charges against seven individuals and two companies with 20 counts of conspiracy to defraud, “money laundering”, attempting to pervert the course of public justice and tax evasion

After the Wang Fuk Court fire, the ICAC set up a task force to launch a full investigation into possible corruption in the residential estate’s major renovation project. The task force gathered evidence from multiple sources and achieved breakthroughs, discovering fraudulent practices across various stages of the project. Some individuals are also suspected of laundering crime proceeds derived from alleged corruption.

Based on the evidence currently gathered and pursuant to legal advice from the DoJ, the ICAC today laid charges against seven individuals, Will Power, the project consultancy firm in Wang Fuk Court’s major renovation project, and Prestige, the main contractor for the project, with a total of 20 offences. These comprise three counts of conspiracy to defraud, five counts of dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence (commonly known as “money laundering”), two counts of attempting to do an act tending or intended to pervert the course of public justice, and 10 counts of offences relating to tax evasion.

The charges mainly cover four areas: (1) fraud in tendering process; (2) fraud in project supervision; (3) “money laundering” by project consultancy firm’s director; and (4) attempting to pervert the course of public justice in ICAC’s investigation.

Area 1: Fraud in the tendering process of Wang Fuk Court’s major renovation project

(involving two counts of conspiracy to defraud)

One of the charges alleges that between May 2023 and April 2024, during the tender exercise for Wang Fuk Court’s major renovation project, Will Power’s director Wong Hap-yin, two directors of Prestige, Hau Wa-kin and Ho Kin-yip, as well as Will Power and Prestige conspired together to defraud the Incorporated Owners and flat owners of Wang Fuk Court by concealing the litigation records of Prestige in the preceding eight years and inflating the score given to Prestige in the tender analysis report, thereby inducing flat owners of Wang Fuk Court to vote for Prestige and causing Prestige to be awarded the major renovation project at a contract sum of over $300 million.

Another charge alleges that during the same period, Will Power’s director Wong Hap-yin, Will Power and an employee of the company consired together to defraud the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) by causing a tender analysis report containing false information to be published onto the URA’s electronic platform for access by flat owners of Wang Fuk Court, facilitating the award of the major renovation project.

Area 2: Fraud in project supervision at Wang Fuk Court and other estates

(involving one count of conspiracy to defraud)

Another charge relates to 86 building maintenance projects conducted by Will Power between August 2023 and November 2025, including that of Wang Fuk Court. It is alleged that Will Power and its director Wong Hap-yin and Registered Inspector Ng Yeuk, as well as Wong Hap-yin’s friend Hung Kwok-wai conspired together to defraud the Buildings Department and the Independent Checking Unit of the Housing Bureau by falsely representing that Ng Yeuk would carry out or had carried out his statutory duties to inspect and supervise the 86 projects, and signed some of the relevant reports under the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme. In fact, Ng Yeuk had not duly carried out his statutory duties as Registered Inspector.

Area 3: “Money laundering” by project consultancy firm’s director

(involving five counts of “money laundering” and 10 counts of tax evasion)

In the past six years between 2019 and 2025, Will Power secured project consultancy contracts for multiple housing estates, including Wang Fuk Court. The five “money laundering” charges allege that during this period, Will Power’s director Wong Hap-yin, his wife Chung So-fan and Will Power’s employee Li Min dealt with various sums of crime proceeds suspected to be originated from corruption involving cash totalling over $40 million through Will Power’s bank accounts and their personal bank accounts. Most of the cash deposited into Will Power’s account was not supported by business records or receipts explaining their sources.

Ten other charges against Wong Hap-yin and Will Power allege that Will Power evaded tax for the years of assessment 2022/23 and 2024/25 by making false statements in the tax returns regarding the company’s turnovers and false accounting, etc.

Area 4: Attempting to pervert the course of public justice in ICAC’s investigation

(involving two counts of attempting to pervert the course of public justice)

The two remaining charges allege that Hung Kwok-wai attempted to pervert the course of public justice. It is alleged that on November 27, 2025, after the ICAC announced it had launched a criminal investigation into Wang Fuk Court’s major renovation project, Hung Kwok-wai and Will Power’s director Wong Hap-yin concealed a bag containing cash of totalling $600,000 (suspected to be part of the bribes offered by Prestige to Wong Hap-yin), and incited Ng Yeuk to make false representations to the Independent Checking Unit of the Housing Bureau.

The two cases were adjourned to September 2, 2026 for mention at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts. As the relevant investigations by the Police and the ICAC are continuing, further law enforcement actions would not be ruled out.

Wang Fuk Court, Photo by Bastille Post

Land and Development Advisory Committee holds meeting

The Development Bureau briefed the Land and the Development Advisory Committee (LDAC) at its meeting today (July 27) on the two new measures to incentivise urban renewal. The major arrangements of the measures are as follows:

(1) The Bonus Plot Ratio Pilot Scheme: If a developer commits to pull down a building with residential elements in the seven designated areas (Note), whose building age reached 50 years or above with the site area not less than 700 square metres, and redevelop it into residential use, an additional 20 per cent premium-free gross floor area (GFA) will be provided as bonus. The developer can choose to submit planning application to the Town Planning Board (TPB) to directly utilise the bonus plot ratio in kind for in-situ redevelopment. The developer can also choose to translate the bonus plot ratio into land premium value for offsetting the land premium payable for in-situ redevelopment or any other land transactions in the Northern Metropolisand other parts of the territory. To simplify the execution procedures, the Government will use standard rates to calculate the premium value of the bonus plot ratio. All in-situ redevelopment projects joining the Pilot Scheme are required to be effected by means of lease modification to ensure timely completion of the redevelopment project. The bonus plot ratio will not affect other existing GFA concession measures. Subject to market response, the Development Bureau will evaluate the effectiveness of the Pilot Scheme, as well as introduce adjustments where necessary and consider whether the period of the Pilot Scheme will have to be extended; and

(2) The cross-district transfer of plot ratio (TPR) arrangement: It is to relax the current arrangements of TPR within the same district, allowing cross-district transfer of plot ratio from the sending sites to other areas across the territory, including the New Development Areas, so as to reduce the development density in the urban area. It is also to extend the geographic coverage of sending sites from Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei to the remaining five designated areas (Note), as well as removing the limit of two receiving sites and reducing the site area requirement of receiving sites from 1000sqm to 700sqm. To provide additional incentives, if the sending site is used for designated uses benefiting the local community, subject to the TPB's approval, certain premium-free GFA could be provided within the sending sites as bonus GFA, in addition to the full transfer of the plot ratio and GFA from sending sites in order to support the on-going management and maintenance of the sending site. Furthermore, the premium assessment arrangement will be relaxed to allow the land premium assessment for the sending sites and receiving sites to be combined. All cross-district TPR proposals will require submission of planning applications to the TPB, which will perform a gatekeeping role in ensuring the transfer will not cause adverse impact to the surrounding environment.

The Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, said "At present, the pace of building ageing in Hong Kong far exceeds that of redevelopment by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and the private market. In the past decade, the number of buildings aged 50 years or above increased by about 510 per year, while on average only 160 buildings were demolished by the URA and the private sector. And not many redevelopment projects in old districts are financially viable these days. In this regard, the Government has to adopt a new mindset and bold policy thinking to give a stronger policy push to encourage the private sector to participate in urban renewal, with a view to expediting redevelopment and rescuing urban decay."

Members were very supportive of the two new measures proposed by the Government. They agreed that the Bonus Plot Ratio Pilot Scheme would provide incentives and enhance the financial viability of redevelopment projects in old districts, and that the cross-district TPR arrangement could further incentivise the market to use the planning tool to expedite urban renewal.

Members considered that it was time to give bolder and stronger push to promote urban redevelopment by the URA and the market. If the response of these measures is positive, members expected that the Government could extend the Pilot scheme and consider relaxing the implementation arrangements where appropriate. Given the measures would involve a lot of technical implementation details, Members would like the Government to set out such details in the application guidelines of the relevant measures, so as to facilitate implementation.

The above are two of the measures announced in the Chief Executive's 2025 Policy Address to expedite urban renewal. Having consulted relevant stakeholders and taken into account their comments, the Government has formulated the implementation arrangements. The LDAC today mainly discussed the implementation details of the relevant proposals.

The Government will issue a joint practice notes for launching the Bonus Plot Ratio Pilot Scheme and revise the TPB Guidelines on TPR after obtaining the TPB's endorsement, with a view to launching the two schemes in the third quarter of 2026.

Note: The seven designated areas refer to Cheung Sha Wan (the same Outline Zoning Plan (OZP) covering also Sham Shui Po), Ma Tau Kok (covering Kowloon City and To Kwa Wan), Mong Kok, Sai Ying Pun and Sheung Wan (covered by the same OZP), Tsuen Wan, Wan Chai and Yau Ma Tei.

Source: AI-found images