Hong Kong fire exposes entrenched triad networks in building renovation industry

HONG KONG – A deadly fire at a Hong Kong housing estate has exposed how bid-rigging networks linked to criminal gangs exploited weaknesses in the city’s lucrative building renovation industry to influence contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Organized crime groups known as triads were mentioned more than 40 times in the report on the government-subsidized Wang Fuk Court inferno, which killed 168 people and displaced thousands of residents. In response to the report’s findings, the government proposed to make bid-rigging in building renovation a criminal offense, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a HK$10 million ($1. 3 million) fine. Laws against triads will also be tightened.

“After all these years, the syndicates are so sophisticated that they make use of all the legal loopholes,” said Chiu Yan Loy, founder and spokesperson of the All-Hong Kong Owners’ Anti-Corruption and Anti-Bid-Rigging Alliance. Some networks delay distributing profits for months and use channels including cryptocurrencies, making money flows difficult to trace, he added. Lawyers and law enforcement officers say the new offense will only work if it helps investigators gather hard evidence. “We’re talking about offenses that exist in a kind of twilight world. There aren’t always transactions between offenders, bribery or a paper trail to prove collusive behavior or a cartel,” said one law enforcement officer, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. Loose regulatory framework Triad gangs — fraternal brotherhoods whose members swear blood oaths of loyalty and secrecy — have for decades been linked to extortion, prostitution, drug trafficking and loan-sharking. Less prominent than in the 1980s and 1990s, they remain active and operate more complex…