MTR Whistleblower To File Judicial Review On Report

The man who first revealed the shoddy construction work at Hung Hom MTR Station says he plans to file for a judicial review next week over the report published by a government-appointed commission of inquiry into the scandal.

In its report released on Tuesday, the commission concluded that a station extension as part of the Shatin-Central Link is safe to use despite substandard work.

But Jason Poon, the managing director of China Technology which was a sub-contractor on the project, says the judge-led commission was biased towards the government and the MTR Corporation and the public should still be worried about the station's safety.

On an RTHK programme on Wednesday morning, Poon said the report is only critical of the government on the surface, and it actually helps the government, the MTR Corporation, and the project's main contractor, Leighton, avoid being investigated for civil and criminal liability.

"The contract established that the structure, it should be safe and suitable for railway use for 120 years. We must have some [certainty] of safety factors to deal with the clay, of the materials, and the use of the structure etc," he said.

"However, the current practice is trying to make some remedial works, additional works, and use of the safety factors to cope with the current structural integrity problems."

Transport and Housing Secretary Frank Chan told the same radio programme that the government will look into who within the Highways Department should be held responsible for the substandard work at Hung Hom.

Lawmaker and former railway boss Michael Tien urged the government to hold the then director of the department to account.

"Although he has retired, really the government should seriously consider a very severe public reprimand, that would send a very strong signal to all other government officials during the last few years before retirement that they should pay close attention to the quality of the work and not... [assume] that 'I'm gonna retire so it doesn't mean that anymore, nothing's gonna happen to me, government cannot touch me'," Tien said.