42 arrested in HK$180 million crackdown on triad-linked renovation projects

A worker removes scaffolding mesh on a building in Mong Kok.

Photo: Jelly Tse Hong Kong authorities have arrested 42 people in a joint crackdown on triad infiltration and corruption involving a consultancy firm and its building maintenance projects worth HK$180 million (US$23 million), according to the city’s anti-graft watchdog.

The arrestees include a consultancy firm owner, a registered inspector and multiple middlemen with organised crime backgrounds.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Monday that it carried out a joint operation with police targeting a sophisticated syndicate suspected of using triad muscle and bribery to manipulate the tendering process for renovation projects across residential estates in the New Territories, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

The two-day operation took place last Thursday and Friday, with the ICAC arresting 10 men aged between 28 and 61, including the proprietor and a registered inspector of a consultancy firm, several triad middlemen, a property management company director and the owners of two contracting firms.

A key focus of the investigation was a HK$160 million renovation project for a housing estate under the Tenants Purchase Scheme in the New Territories in mid-2025.

Without specifying which estate, the ICAC said the consultancy firm involved had secured the contract for the project by bidding at an “unreasonably low” fee – just 0.5 per cent of the total project sum. “It is suspected that the project consultancy firm would subsequently contact potential bidders through triad members, and by means of bribery, manipulate the tendering process,” an ICAC spokesman said. “While the relevant tendering exercise is still at the preparatory stage, the ICAC’s early intervention is believed to have prevented the corrupt dealings from taking place and intercepted triad infiltration in the grand renovation project of the housing estate.” The investigation also uncovered serious malpractice involving a HK$20 million renovation of a residential building on Hong Kong Island, a contract managed by the same consultancy since 2022.

The ICAC found the project contractor had logged “various dubious expenditures” totalling several million dollars.

Meanwhile, a registered inspector from the consultancy was suspected of ghosting his duties by signing off on building inspection reports without ever setting foot on-site.

The ICAC says the two-day operation targeted a sophisticated syndicate suspected of

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