Wang Fuk Court fire report submitted to John Lee

The independent committee investigating the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po submitted its report to Chief Executive John Lee on Thursday, RTHK has learned. The report, understood to run into hundreds of pages across more than 10 chapters, has been prepared in both Chinese and English. According to sources, the contents would not be released immediately as the administration needs time to review them. The committee held 30 hearings across six rounds between March and July, summoning resident representatives, staff from government departments and fire service contractors to give evidence. During closing submissions in mid-July, the committee's lead representative, senior counsel Victor Dawes, identified four bodies as bearing regulatory responsibility: the Housing Bureau's Independent Checking Unit, the Buildings Department, the Fire Services Department and the Labour Department. He argued that reform needed to be structural, not piecemeal. The senior counsel representing the government, Jenkin Suen, said the direct cause of the fire was unlawful conduct by private stakeholders including contractors. He said it would be unfair and inconsistent with the facts to place all blame on the government, though he acknowledged there were weaknesses in the regulatory system that allowed such conduct to go undetected. The chief executive said this month the government...