Government releases report of Independent Committee in relation to fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po
The Government today (October 29) released the report submitted by the Independent Committee in relation to the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. The report has been uploaded to (www.gov.hk/en/residents/government/policy/government_reports/reports_index.htm) for public information.
The report submitted by the Independent Committee in relation to the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. Photo by Bastille Post
The Chief Executive received the Committee’s report on October 22. To avoid any undue prejudice (actual or perceived) to relevant criminal prosecutions, the Government has redacted parts of the report after seeking legal advice.
The Government will release the full report after all relevant criminal legal proceedings have been concluded.
Remarks by SCS and PSC chairman at media session (with video)
The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, and the Chairman of the Public Service Commission, Ms Maisie Cheng, met the media today (October 29) on Tier II investigation into the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po under the Administrative Responsibility Two-tier Investigation Mechanism. Following are their remarks:
Reporter: Will Winnie Ho be under the Commission's investigation given that she's at the minister's level, and if not, what will be done to find out if she is held liable for the deadly inferno? And also, what will be done to ensure that the Commission can carry out a comprehensive probe in three months amid the involvement of a number of departments that the CE said would cover 40 to 50 people. Thank you.
Secretary for the Civil Service: I'll answer the first question, and then Ms Cheng will answer the second question. The Heads of Department Accountability System and the Administrative Responsibility Two-tier Investigation Mechanism are designed to investigate into the personal responsibilities of civil servants. Political appointees are not meant to be within the scope of investigation under this mechanism.
Chairman of the Public Service Commission: Regarding how we can conduct the investigation in a comprehensive manner within three months, I think the most important thing is to point out that we have already had quite a number of weeks of preparation. As I mentioned before, as early as August, the Civil Service Bureau has already gradually posted different grades of civil servants to our team, and this team has already put all the effort to familiarise itself with the information, especially the abundant information made public by the Independent Committee (Independent Committee in relation to the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po). With all this preparatory work and also the preparatory work done by the two members (members of the Public Service Commission Mrs Ann Kung and Mr Adrian Wong) and myself in the past few months, we are very confident that although the investigation team and the support office will be officially set up today, we can commence the investigation immediately because of all the preparatory work we have done.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
Source: AI-found images
