42 arrested in HK$180 million crackdown on triad-linked renovation projects

Hong Kong authorities have arrested 42 people in a joint crackdown on Triad infiltration and corruption involving a consultancy firm and its building maintenance projects worth HK$180 million (US$23 million), according to the city’s anti-graft watchdog.The arrestees include a consultancy firm owner, a registered inspector and multiple middlemen with organised crime backgrounds.The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Monday that it carried out a joint operation with police targeting a sophisticated syndicate suspected of using Triad muscle and bribery to manipulate the tendering process for renovation projects across residential estates in the New Territories, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.The two-day operation took place last Thursday and Friday, with the ICAC arresting 10 men aged between 28 and 61, including the proprietor and a registered inspector of a consultancy firm, several Triad middlemen, a property management company director and the owners of two contracting firms.A key focus of the investigation was a HK$160 million renovation project for a housing estate under the Tenants Purchase Scheme in the New Territories in mid-2025.Without specifying which estate, the ICAC said the consultancy firm involved had secured the contract for the project by bidding at an “unreasonably low” fee – just 0.5 per cent of the total project sum.