The inside story behind Hong Kong’s deadliest fire revealed

As deadly building fire probe continues, 21 people were arrested by Hong Kong’s anti-graft agency on Friday January 2,2026 on suspicion of corruption in relation to renovation work at two residential estates.

As reported by Reuters, Hong Kong has stepped up a crackdown on corruption linked to building renovation following a fire in late November that ripped through seven high-rise towers and killed more than 160 people.

Following the catastrophe, Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, set up an independent committee to investigate the fire and the construction industry and determine whether there was any bid-rigging in the award of contracts.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption ICAC said in a statement ⁠it conducted enforcement operations last week against a triad-linked corruption syndicate associated with building renovation.

As reported by the anti-graft agency, the ‍21 arrested included middlemen, project consultants, project contractors and members of the owners' corporation of the two housing estates.

In one of the estates, the contractor involved was suspected of bribing the project consultant and some members of the owners' corporation to obtain a project contract worth HK$33 million (US$4.24 million).

While in the other estate, ‌the middlemen allegedly collected instruments of proxy, or authorization tickets from homeowners "by corrupt means" in an attempt to ‍manipulate votes ‌and win future renovation contracts which it did not elaborate on.

“Building maintenance is closely related to the public and involves multiple stakeholders. The ICAC has always attached great importance to corruption in building maintenance,” the statement said.

The ICAC has arrested at least 11 people in a corruption probe into renovation work at Wang Fuk Court.

Furthermore, Hong Kong residents reacted with anger to the inferno, which took nearly two days to extinguish, as authorities informed that substandard building materials used in renovating the high-rise blocks fueled ‌the fire.

Additionally, a similar incident of a massive building fire was reported in March 2023.