Twenty people have been arrested by ICAC officers over the past three days for their alleged involvement in substandard piling work at two housing blocks in Tin Chung Court, Tin Shui Wai.
The operation was mounted after a complaint from the Housing Department. Excessive tilting at one of six Home Ownership Scheme blocks was not detected until the building had been finished, prompting the department to suspect corruption in the concealment of substandard work.
Those arrested include five on-site staff from the architectural consultant appointed by the Housing Department - a project structural engineer, a resident engineer, an assistant clerk of works and two supervisors.
Also held were two directors of the piling contractor and nine of the firm's staff - a contracts manager, two quality control engineers, a site agent, three pile designers, a registered structural engineer and a foreman - as well as a subcontractor who provided labour for piling works.
A senior structural engineer and a structural engineer from the Housing Department responsible for supervising the consultant in relation to the project and an engineer of the geotechnical sub-consultant were also among those arrested.
All were released on bail as the Independent Commission Against Corruption continues its probe.
ICAC inquiries revealed the arrested staff might have manipulated pile design calculations in two of the blocks and falsified data to mislead an architectural consultant into believing that the designed pile length would meet specified engineering criteria.