HK govt sets up panel to probe MTR corner-cutting scandal

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced on Tuesday that the government will set up an independent inquiry committee to investigate the corner-cutting scandal at Hung Hom Station of the Sha Tin-Central rail link. She said the committee is expected to hand in its report within six months.

Justice Michael John Hartmann, a former non-permanent judge in the city’s Court of Final Appeal, will serve as the chairman of the committee, Lam said. But she did not reveal how many members would be in the probe committee and when the panel would convene.

The committee would examine the causes and assess the extent of problems, and review the work supervision mechanism of the MTR Corporation as well as the mechanism which the government deploys to monitor and control such works, Lam said.

According to the city’s top official, the special administrative region government is working on drafting the committee’s scope of responsibilities. It will submit the proposal to the Executive Council as soon as possible.

According to the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance, the composition and responsibilities of any inquiry committee should be hammered out together by the chief executive and the Executive Council.

Last week, MTR Corporation admitted it had found at most 25 defective steel bars at the construction site of the city’s most expensive railway project. The MTR said its staff discovered irregularities with steel bars on five occasions between August and December 2015.

As the MTR failed to hand in the requisite report on June 7, it was requested to submit a detailed report by the government within this week.

On Monday, the company was embroiled in a fresh controversy triggered by a safety concern at the future To Kwa Wan Station on the Sha Tin-Central link as concerns emerged that a 30-meter-long wall might not have been reinforced properly.