Renovation consultant knew a week before gov’t inspections, proxy votes ‘very common,’ Tai Po blaze inquiry hears

The construction consultant knew about government inspections one week before, a property management company employee has told a public inquiry into the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire.

Lok Sin-ying, a clerk of ISS EastPoint Properties, which managed the housing estate in Tai Po, said on Wednesday that she got the impression from meetings hosted by the estate owners’ corporation that the renovation consultant “had frequent exchange” with government staff.

Lok Sin-ying (centre), a clerk of ISS EastPoint Properties Limited, testifies at a public hearing into the massive Tai Po fire on March 31, 2026. Photo: Hans Tse/HKFP.

Lok was asked by lawyer Jeffrey Tam, who represents a group of Wang Fuk Court residents, whether she knew how many days before the inspections the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) would usually inform Will Power Architects, the consultant overseeing the estate’s renovation.

“In our meetings to follow up on the renovation project, I heard people from Will Power say more than once, ‘Next week, Amanda will come to our estate.’ I believe it was Amanda Lau from the government,” Lok said in Cantonese at the seventh hearing held by an independent committee investigating the tragedy.

Wang Fuk Court was undergoing a large-scale renovation when a fire struck in late November, engulfing seven of its buildings and killing 168 people.

See also: ‘Gov’t should bear greatest responsibility’: Tai Po fire survivors recall futile whistle-blowing attempts

At the first hearing on March 19, Senior Counsel Victor Dawes, lead lawyer for the committee, said that the ICU disclosed advanced details of safety checks to Will Power, which then allegedly alerted Prestige Construction, the main contractor.

He also noted that according to WhatsApp records dated October 27 – a month before the fire – ICU maintenance surveyor Amanda Lau texted Will Power employee Yeung Chi-man to arrange an inspection of scaffolding nets.

Wang Fuk Court on fire in late November 2025. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Dawes called the ICU’s advance notices “deeply concerning” during his opening statement.

However, Jenkin Suen, a lawyer representing the Hong Kong government, said on March 24 that there was a practical need for the ICU to arrange inspections in advance, as having a representative from the inspected party present would facilitate sampling and allow instant communication.

‘Hard to verify’ signatures

Lok also said on Wednesday that ISS always helped the owners’ corporation handle “authorised letters” from Wang Fuk Court residents, which were used for proxy votes, including when voting for the renovation consultant.

However, she was unable to verify the signatures of the homeowners, she said.

“We can’t verify the signatures. Even if there is just an ‘X,’ I’ll treat it as a signature. But if there is any information missing on the letters, we would call homeowners to ask whether they issued authorised letters,” Lok told the hearing.

Tai Po South councillor Peggy Wong, a member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), in 2024. Photo: Peggy Wong, via Facebook.

Residents in an earlier hearing told the inquiry about the issue of authorised letters and proxy votes, naming Tai Po South district councillor Peggy Wong, a member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB).

Lok told the independent committee on Wednesday that authorised letters were indeed “very common” in the voting of homeowners at Wang Fuk Court.

“Basically, there would usually be around 100 proxy ballots in every vote, which would account for about half of the ballots. It significantly affected the outcome of the voting,” she said.

Did not ‘flee the scene’

Chung Sui-ha, an ISS building attendant, also testified on Wednesday.

She said she was working at Wang Cheong House, the first building that caught fire, on November 26. At around 2.48pm, a man – who was not a resident of Wang Cheong House – came to tell her that the building had caught fire, she told the inquiry.

“I ran to the first floor and broke the fire alarm, but it did not go off. At the time, there was no smoke, but there was fire by the window – you could hear it crackling,” Chung said as she sobbed.

She said she later went to the second and third floors of Wang Cheong House to break the fire alarms, but neither alarm went off.

Chung Sui-ha, an ISS EastPoint Properties building attendant, attends a public hearing into Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po fire on March 31, 2026. Photo: Hans Tse/HKFP.

“The fire became intense at that time, and there was smoke inside,” Chung said, adding that she returned to the lobby of Wang Cheong House to help residents evacuate and urged people not to go inside the building.

At the end of her testimony, Chung said she wanted to clarify that she did not run away after the fire broke out.

“Some neighbours said that I was the first one to flee the scene, but I want to tell everyone that I did no such thing. I stayed behind to help evacuate the residents. In fact, I would say I was one of the last to leave,” she said.

Separately, Lok also said at the end of her testimony that the online allegations that the property management company staff “disappeared” after the fire broke out were untrue.

Instead, she said, she used a loudspeaker to call on residents to evacuate that day and did not leave them amid the fatal fire.