This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.

The hearing by an independent panel investigating the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire in Hong Kong entered its 14th day on Friday. The hearing focused on the role of the management committee of the owners’ corporation, with a former chairman of the body and a construction worker testifying.

Tony Tsui Moon-come, chairman of the management committee at the time of the fire, testified that the owners’ corporation had appealed to the renovation contractor, Prestige Construction and Engineering, to replace fire-susceptible styrofoam boards and flimsy protective netting, but its efforts were “in vain”.

The committee’s lead counsel Victor Dawes present testimony from district councillor Peggy Wong Pik-kiu, who admitted collecting proxy votes at two general meetings in 2021 and 2024, but insisted no benefits were offered in return for those votes.

In an earlier session, residents accused Wong of exerting an influence on homeowners to pick Prestige as the contractor for multimillion-dollar renovations at Wang Fuk Court, where the blaze broke out last November and claimed 168 lives.

Preliminary investigations found the company had used non fire-retardant scaffolding mesh while applying flammable styrofoam boards to windows during renovations, which contributed to the quick spread of the fire.

Two subcontractors on the HK$336 million (US$42.9 million) project had also admitted that they did not proactively curb workers’ habit of smoking on the scaffolding.

Follow our live updates on the 14th day of the hearings.

More from our coverage: