Competition watchdog busts $700mn bid-rigging syndicate, including tenders for Wang Fuk Court

發佈日期: 2026-03-25 20:04

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The Competition Commission has dismantled a suspected bid-rigging syndicate and launched legal proceedings against multiple companies and intermediaries.

They allegedly colluded to obtain building maintenance contracts for 11 housing estates or industrial buildings, totalling nearly 700 million dollars.

They include fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po.

A deadly blaze that claimed more than 160 lives -- but also brought the light suspected systemic networks and entrenched practices of bid-rigging in Hong Kong's building maintenance sector.

The latest to unravel: a bid-rigging syndicate which sought to corner a quarter of Hong Kong's building maintenance projects.

After receiving a referral from the ICAC in 2024, the Competition Commission uncovered the group, comprising multiple contractors and intermediaries.

The mastermind -- Cheung Kwing-kuen who owns three construction companies coordinated pricing with five other firms to ensure the designated contractor won the tenders.

The watchdog says the group first identified target projects across Hong Kong, then assigned roles within the syndicate with predetermined bid prices.

Some firms submitted so-called "cover bids" to create the illusion of competition.

Internal communications revealed the syndicate's ambition to corner up to a quarter of Hong Kong's building maintenance projects.

Between April 2022 and late 2023, the group took part in 11 projects.

Except for the two contracts at Neptune Terrace in Chai Wan and Tsui Lam Estate in Tseung Kwan O which were overturned, the other projects including Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po and Alhambra Building in Yau Ma Tei had works completed.

The Commission has initiated legal proceedings with the Competition Tribunal against 12 individuals, including Cheung Kwing-kuen, as well six other companies.

The Commission adds that some contractors may have made false declarations by signing non-collusion undertakings while others failed to provide information during probes
-- in breach of the Competition Ordinance.

The relevant cases have been referred to the police for follow-up.

Noting the gravity of the situation, lawmaker Adrian Ho urges for the criminalisation of bid-rigging acts.

Ho says the probes this time revealed the difficulties of the competition watchdog to even obtain information from the sector.

Noting the limited executive powers granted to the Commission now, Ho says in addition to administrative fines, those committing bid-rigging acts should also be held criminally responsible to boost deterrence.