DANNY MOK DANNY.MOK@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 22 September, 2015, 9:30am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 22 September, 2015, 9:30am
Albert Chan is one of several lawmakers who had called for a formal investigation of the lead-in-water scandal. Photo: SCMP Pictures
The city’s graft-buster has launched an investigation into the lead-in-water scandal affecting a slew of public housing estates.
It is understood that the Independent Commission Against Corruption decided to start a probe about a month ago.
A commission spokesman last night declined to comment.
He said, “The commission would not comment on any individual case. It’s the commission’s statutory duty to receive and consider corruption-related allegations, which are followed up in accordance with the laws if there is sufficient information.”
Since the lead-in-water crisis unfolded in early July, water samples in at least ten public estates built by the Housing Department were found to have the heavy metal with levels exceeding the World Health Organisation's safety standard.
The scandal prompted several political parties and public estate residents to report to the ICAC in July, alleging that substandard materials were used in the water systems.
Temporary distribution pipes, such as this one at Kai Ching Estate in Kai Tak, were set up after the scandal broke in July. Photo: Sam TsangPeople Power lawmaker Albert Chan Wai-yip wrote to Simon Peh Yun-lu, commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
On July 19, Peh confirmed that the commission had received a number of complaints about the scandal.
Chan last night refused to comment on whether ICAC had contacted him about the launch of a probe.
He said he had realised that aspects of the water scandal resembled the short-piling scandals affecting several public estates in the 1990s and provided him grounds to write to Peh.
“There might be something being omitted in the process: from the tendering for water system contractors to the construction of the systems,” Chan said.
Apart from the graft buster’s probe, an investigative commission appointed by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and led by a judge is also looking into the scandal.
An interdepartmental task force that includes the Housing Department, Department of Health and the Government Laboratory headed by the deputy director of water services is investigating the source of lead contamination.
A committee under the Housing Authority tasked with reviewing quality control and works supervision of water supplies at public housing is also working to address the loopholes.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1860301/hong-kong-anti-corruption-agency-said-be-probing
