A global cyberattack on online learning platform Canvas has compromised the personal information of more than 72,000 students and staff at Hong Kong schools and universities, according to the city’s privacy watchdog.

The data breaches are part of a global attack that hit almost 9,000 educational institutions worldwide, involving data from 275 million users, according to the platform’s developer, Instructure.

Seven local institutions, including three public universities, have reported the breaches to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD).

They are: the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), City University of Hong Kong (CityU), the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Hong Kong Art School, the Hong Kong Institute of Construction (HKIC), and Hong Kong Education City Limited.

The ShinyHunters hacker group allegedly held Instructure to ransom, threatening to leak the information unless the company paid, according to international media.

Instructure said it had reached an agreement with the hacker group to prevent a public leak and gave assurances that no personal information had been compromised.

Student and staff information

The CityU breach involved 28,000 students, according to the university’s report to the PCPD, the privacy watchdog said in a statement on Monday. The leaked data may have included student names, email addresses, student IDs, and messages.

The breach also affected 42,000 students and staff at PolyU, with their names and email addresses potentially compromised, according to the PCPD.

The watchdog “has advised the relevant organisations to notify those affected as soon as possible and to provide assistance as appropriate in each case, in order to prevent the breach from escalating,” it said.

Some 2,500 students and staff at the HKIC and 71 students at the Hong Kong Art School were hit by the breach. The other three institutions have yet to confirm the number of people affected.

Cybersecurity officials have called on institutions to suspend use of the online learning platform and remain vigilant against potential follow-up phishing attacks.

The Hong Kong Productivity Council chief digital officer Edmond Lai said at a press conference on Monday that such attacks could lead to further data leaks or unauthorised transactions.

He also said that the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre is using artificial intelligence tools to identify phishing websites potentially linked to the Canvas hack.

Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Raymond Lam said at a press conference on Tuesday that two police reports had been made in relation to the Canvas hack.

One report was filed by a local institution, while the other involved people who used the incident as a pretence to deceive a resident.

A traveller has been sentenced to six weeks in prison and fined HK$1,800 after attempting to smuggle cigarettes under his stockings while crossing the border from mainland China.

The 49-year-old man received his sentence at the Fanling Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday, one day after he was intercepted at the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point.

Customs officers seized 1,181 sticks of illicit cigarettes from the traveller, with an estimated market value of about HK$4,800, the Customs and Excise Department said in a statement on Thursday.

Around HK$3,900 in duties would have been charged on that amount of cigarettes, the statement added.

Customs also released a photo appearing to show cigarette packs wrapped around a man’s lower legs underneath his stockings.

The man was arrested on suspicion of contravening the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance and sentenced “for possessing duty-not-paid cigarettes and failing to declare them to Customs officers,” the statement said.

The department welcomed the ruling, saying: “The custodial sentence has imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflects the seriousness of the offences.”

A Hong Kong court has upheld the conviction and sentence of a journalist and former head of a press union for obstructing police while reporting.

Veteran journalist Ronson Chan began serving his five-day sentence on Friday after Deputy High Court Judge Lily Wong upheld a lower court’s conviction over an incident in September 2022, when Chan refused to show his ID card to a police officer while reporting on a homeowners’ meeting.

In her written judgment, which was not read out in court on Friday, Wong shot down Chan’s argument that the police officer’s demand was unlawful and found that the journalist had obstructed the police by wilfully delaying the presentation of his identification.

According to case details, Chan was covering the meeting at MacPherson Stadium in Mong Kok, where he was stopped by a plainclothes police officer who said he was acting “suspiciously” and asked to see his identification card.

He was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police officer after allegedly failing to comply with demands to produce his ID card despite multiple warnings.

At trial, Chan said that he refused to present his identification due to privacy concerns, referring to an incident during the 2019 protests when a police officer showed his ID card in front of his camera, which was live-streamed to thousands of viewers.

The West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts found Chan guilty in September 2023, a year after he was arrested.

The trial judge, Leung Ka-kie, said Chan deliberately stopped the police officer from carrying out her duties and that his persistent questioning of officers when they asked for his identification was “reckless and unreasonable.”

‘Social climate’

Noting online calls to protest at the homeowners’ meeting, Judge Wong also concurred with the trial judge’s ruling that the police officers were justified in their actions to maintain public order.

“As the Magistrate ruled… given the social climate at the time, observing the rules and maintaining order in public places in Hong Kong was both important and commendable,” Judge Wong wrote.

Chan repeatedly questioned the officers and ignored warnings to calm down, and only offered an opaque cardholder, which constituted wilful obstruction, the judge added.

Chan’s barrister, Steven Kwan, told the court that he would seek a certificate from the appellate court to take the journalist’s appeal to the city’s apex court, but did not submit a bail application.

With the certificate, Chan would be able to seek permission for a final chance to appeal his conviction and sentence.

Reactions from press groups

Chan, who was elected as chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) in June 2021, stepped down at the end of his term in June 2024, citing increasing pressure against him and the press union.

In a statement issued on Friday, the HKJA expressed “deep regret” over the court’s decision and raised concerns about the ruling’s impact on journalists’ work.

“Citing the exercise of constitutionally protected fundamental rights as grounds for a search is legally untenable, and today’s ruling failed to directly address this contradiction,” the HKJA said.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Friday that it “is outraged by the imprisonment of Ronson Chan.”

“The verdict sets a dangerous precedent, effectively giving the police a free hand and further eroding already dismantled press freedoms,” said Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy manager of RSF Asia Pacific.

Hong Kong police have arrested 16 people for allegedly using bogus medical certificates to fraudulently withdraw over HK$4.3 million from their retirement savings funds.

Police said on Thursday that a syndicate had forged medical certificates to allow claimants to falsely claim they were totally incapacitated or suffered from a terminal illness to withdraw their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) contributions early.

Police Superintendent Allan Chu of the Commercial Crime Bureau said at a press conference that nine men and seven women, aged between 29 and 63, were arrested on suspicion of fraud.

Two suspects were allegedly core members of the fraud ring, while the other 14 were suspected of using the syndicate’s services.

The syndicate members never actually met with the 14 people who sought to withdraw their funds early, Chu said.

Forged medical certificates

According to police, the syndicate placed advertisements on social media purporting to offer services that were ”legal and compliant,” charging no fees on unsuccessful applications.

The individuals seeking to use the service provided the syndicate with identity documents, bank account details, and login details for the electronic MPF platform.

The syndicate used the names of real doctors on forged medical certificates – without the physicians’ knowledge – and charged a 10 to 20 per cent commission on the claims totalling some HK$4.3 million.

The amount in each fraudulent application ranged from HK$110,000 to HK$600,000, police said.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the eMPF Platform Company Ltd expressed “grave concern” over the incident and said it would fully cooperate with the police.

It also said it had strengthened the vetting process for all applications for early MPF withdrawal, “particularly those submitted on the grounds of terminal illness or total incapacity, including verifying the authenticity of each medical certificate with relevant doctors to combat fraudulent activities.”

Under the Crimes Ordinance, forging or using false documents constitutes a criminal offence and may result in a maximum penalty of imprisonment for up to 14 years.

The smell of smoke filled the flat as Mr and Mrs Wong brought home eight red-white-blue and IKEA bags filled with their belongings, retrieved from their old home, now charred and damaged by the fire.

Their daughter should have been overjoyed to have been reunited with her collection of storybooks, but all she could do was recoil from the smell of ash still lingering on the paperbacks six months after the fire at Wang Fuk Court last November.

The Wongs were among residents who returned to their fire-scorched flats to retrieve their belongings from mid-April to early May. On their allocated day, Wang Fuk Court residents made their way up the estate’s stairwells, racing against a three-hour time limit to retrieve what they could, reminisce in their former homes, and pay respects to the dead.

It was also a cathartic experience for some, as they struggled to pick up the pieces – literally and figuratively – in the wake of the deadly tragedy.

The inferno at the government-subsidised estate in Tai Po in November last year killed 168 people and has since displaced thousands of others. An inquiry hearing is under way to identify the cause of the fire – the city’s deadliest in decades – and hear testimony from residents, government officers, and others.

The Wong family was able to salvage some keepsakes and belongings, including the daughter’s books and birthday cards from friends, an old photo album, and a hard drive containing pictures and videos from the past decade.

“Some of the books were gifts from friends, and some of them she bought with her own pocket money. When she saw that the things in Wang Fuk Court had come back, she was so happy. But at the same time, all of those things smelled of smoke,” said Mrs Wong, who declined to disclose her full name for privacy reasons.

She recalled that her daughter, unable to withstand the stench, retreated to her room. “She said, ‘I have to hide in my room, the living room smells so bad!’”

Nearly six months after the fire, the nine-year-old girl is still reeling from the trauma. She “has become quite sensitive to certain smells and sounds, even the school bell,” Mrs Wong told HKFP in a phone interview this month.

The 38-year-old mother was worried that the smell of smoke – if it continued to linger – might bring up her daughter’s memories of the escape from the burning complex. Both she and her daughter have started seeing a psychologist to process the emotional fallout.

On the fateful day in late November, Mrs Wong was working at a local nursery when a neighbour called to tell her the estate was on fire. Her daughter and father-in-law were at home. Both Mr and Mrs Wong tried to call the grandfather multiple times, and luckily, the husband’s call went through.

The girl and her grandfather made their way down the 27 floors and exited the building through the back entrance – some 20 minutes after the fire broke out.

The Wongs are now living in a rented flat in Tai Po, the same district as their old home. Smoke from incense at a nearby traditional temple and sirens from a fire depot have also become triggers for the young girl.

For herself, Mrs Wong recovered some clothes that her mother-in-law had tailored to fit her. The family is still searching for an SD card containing 10 years’ worth of photos, including those of her daughter’s birth, hoping it will still be intact in the wreckage.

Mrs Wong told HKFP that she wept as she climbed all the way up to the 27th-floor flat at Wang Tai House, the second block at Wang Fuk Court that caught fire, earlier this month. To her surprise, their flat appeared to be largely untouched by the flames, though the intense heat from above and below her flat had mangled the ceiling and floor.

Before heading back to their old flat, she had resigned herself to the possibility that it might also be her last chance for a farewell. “What I wanted was to properly say goodbye to the flat,” Mrs Wong said.

Hong Kong authorities are set on a plan to buy out seven blocks at Wang Fuk Court for HK$6.8 billion and one tower largely unaffected by the blaze for another HK$1 billion, as well as to tear down the estate and turn it into a park or community facility.

“Every time I thought of going back, I would cry. I would worry about crying so hard that I wouldn’t have time to pack,” she said. “But I couldn’t let myself do that. I had to steel my nerves and pack up.”

Mrs Wong also brought flowers to pay her respects to her neighbour who died in the fire. “Looking at the other badly burnt units, I was reminded of all the people who left us,” she said.

Unfortunately, she did not have time to say proper goodbyes because she had to get back to packing.

The 27-storey slog up and down the building left the Wongs pressed for time. They were told to leave almost 30 minutes before their three hours were up to account for the time it would take to move all their things downstairs.

“I had hoped I would have some time to sit down and let things sink in, but I couldn’t even have that,” she said. To the family’s relief, the government has said residents will have a second chance to return to the estate. “Given a choice, I would pack up the entire place with me,” she said.

Carbon Yip, who lived in a sixth-floor flat in the neighbouring Wang Cheong House, the first block that caught fire, is planning his second trip back to the estate.

“I’ll take every single opportunity to go back,” said Yip, who spent almost three decades of his life at the estate. “The last time I was home was when I left for work that day, and now we’re back.”

Yip and his wife, Karen, moved into their flat after they got married, in the block neighbouring the tower where his childhood home was. “It wasn’t just property, it was the place where I grew up,” he said about Wang Fuk Court.

“Even if we’re done packing up, if we are allowed back, I’d still want to go back, even if it’s just to sit.”

The couple, along with his older brother and father, returned to Wang Fuk Court last month, donning hard hats and name tags. They packed up their lives at the estate into about 30-odd bags, most of which have been placed into a storage unit in a nearby industrial district.

The family first went to Carbon Yip’s home and days later to his father’s flat in Wang Tai House.

They returned to the flats weeks after the father, Yip Ka-kui, also known as Sdanni Yip, gave a moving testimony before an independent committee investigating the cause of the fire and its rapid spread.

At the hearing, Sdanni Yip, who repeatedly reported potential fire hazards at the estate to authorities, accused the government of “evading responsibility.” He also gave a heartfelt tribute to his late wife, Pak Shui-lin, who spent her final moments knocking on doors to notify other residents of the fire.

The Yip family’s designated social worker showed them photos of the flat before they returned so they would have a better idea of what to look for. However, even then, Carbon Yip couldn’t prepare himself for the weight of stepping back into his home.

“I had to collect myself before I could start packing, because the emotions were overwhelming,” he said, recalling the trip back to Wang Cheong House. “I don’t think anyone could accept seeing their home looking that way.”

Carbon Yip, 36, lost much of his Gundam and Digimon figurine collection to the fire. He discovered the models had melted and fused into a single unrecognisable lump of plastic. He had to throw out a large part of his Pokémon card collection, including limited anniversary-edition cases that warped and melted in the fire.

However, he managed to salvage a commemorative crystal block made to remember their pet dog, who died early last year after about 16 years with the family. The memento was stashed away in a box, which shielded it from the worst of the fire.

Returning home reminded him of his late mother. Pak took care of their late dog, whom she called her “granddaughter,” while he and his wife worked.

“’Your daughter isn’t eating again!’ – she used to tell me whenever [the dog] was being a picky eater,” Carbon Yip said.

Carbon Yip, his wife, and his father have moved in with the elder brother. Seven family members are crammed into a three-bedroom flat, just a 15-minute walk from Wang Fuk Court.

“Being able to get these things back, our home can now feel a little bit more complete,” Carbon Yip said.

Seven people and two firms that oversaw renovation works at Wang Fuk Court, the site of the city’s deadliest fire in decades, have been charged with manslaughter and a slew of other offences.

Three directors and employees at the two companies were among those formally charged by police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Wednesday.

The defendants face a total of 25 charges, including manslaughter, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, attempting to pervert the course of public justice, and tax evasion.

The blaze at Wang Fuk Court, a government-subsidised housing estate in Tai Po, in November killed 168 people and displaced thousands of residents.

‘Gross negligence’

According to the charge sheets, the two firms are Prestige Construction & Engineering, the main contractor for the HK$330 million renovation project at Wang Fuk Court, and Will Power Architects, the consultancy firm overseeing the government-mandated work.

Among the seven individuals charged are Will Power director Wong Hap-yin, its registered inspector Wilson Ng, and Prestige Construction director Ho Kin-yip.

Wong, Ng and Ho, along with their two companies, were charged with five counts of manslaughter.

The other four defendants are: Hau Wa-kin, another director at Prestige; Chung So-fan, Wong’s wife; Hung Kwok-wai, Wong’s friend; and Lin Min, assistant manager at Will Power.

The charge sheets also included the names of the 168 people killed in the fire.

Senior Superintendent Basil Tang of the New Territories North Regional Crime Unit said at a press conference on Wednesday, “The firms and individuals responsible for the Wang Fuk Court renovation project failed in their duty of care and displayed gross negligence in their supervision of construction materials and engineering protocols.”

Police investigation found key safety violations, including the use of non-flame-retardant scaffold netting and flammable foam boards, and the removal of windows along the emergency escape stairwell, Tang also said.

Tang told reporters that the three men charged with manslaughter were denied bail and the case had been adjourned to September 2 for the next court mention.

Bid rigging

At the same press conference, ICAC Principal Investigator Hazel Law said that Wong, Ho and Hau colluded to rig the tendering process and favour Prestige by omitting the contractor’s conviction records from tender documents.

Ng, who was tasked with overseeing the inspection and supervision of the repair work, “completely failed to carry out the inspections and responsibilities required of his professional role,” Law said.

“We suspect that this tragedy was fuelled entirely by individual greed,” she said. The defendants “not only failed to carry out their professional responsibilities but resorted to deep-seated corruption and fraud to achieve their objectives, displaying a disregard for the lives and properties of the residents.”

According to a police statement on Wednesday, the force and the ICAC laid the charges following investigations, and after seeking legal advice from the Department of Justice.

Two out of three journalists say the working environment in Hong Kong has changed “for the worse” in the past year, according to the latest survey by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.

The 2026 FCC Press Freedom Survey, which received 78 responses from members, found that “67 per cent of respondents said the working environment for them as a journalist had changed for the worse in the last 12 months.”

The FCC pointed out that the survey “happened to take place” after Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was convicted and sentenced to jail, as well as Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong, the Office for Safeguarding National Security (OSNS), summoned representatives of several major foreign media outlets, shortly following the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire.

At the meeting, the OSNS warned that some media organisations had spread false information and smeared the government in reports on the massive blaze at the housing estate in Tai Po, which killed 168 people and displaced thousands of residents.

‘Watershed moment’

One respondent said that the warning by the OSNS to foreign journalists “should be seen as a watershed moment here in Hong Kong. It has created an increased chilling effect.”

About a quarter of respondents said they experienced minor or significant interference in their work, with most describing incidents while covering the Tai Po fire. One journalist said they were told to leave when they were “speaking to survivors in a corner, disturbing no one.”

Another respondent said that the 20-year sentence handed down to Lai “only further chills the local reporting environment.”

More than 50 per cent said sources had become less willing to be quoted during the same period, the survey found.

One respondent was quoted as saying that “the scope of what is ‘acceptable’ in terms of who can be quoted” has narrowed each year.

“It has reached the point where non-political voices who question policy-making or have reservations about certain aspects of it will get cut or reduced significantly by editors,” the respondent added.

See also: Hong Kong press freedom rebounds slightly from historic low, reflecting ‘resilience,’ journalists’ union says

Fewer respondents had a clear sense of what subjects are sensitive in the most recent survey, down from 78 per cent last year to 65 per cent this year, with one respondent saying the Beijing-imposed national security law “is still rather fluid and capricious.”

Half of the respondents said they were “slightly concerned” about arrest or prosecution in relation to their work as journalists, while 41 said they were not. The remaining 9 per cent said they were very concerned.

A third of respondents said their organisations had downsized in Hong Kong. Among them, a third cited the political and legal environment as well as corporate cost-cutting.

But 17 per cent of respondents said their organisations had increased staff in the city, with 40 per cent of them citing “the growing importance of Hong Kong” and increased investment.

“Press freedom remains engrained in Hong Kong law, but as is apparent from the results of our survey, the sentiment for working journalists in the city has been in flux,” said FCC President Morgan Davis.

“The FCC supports journalists’ fundamental right to conduct their work freely and without fear of intimidation or harassment,” the club said in its statement.

“We will continue to safeguard press freedom in the city, via engagement with the journalism community and relevant stakeholders, in order to make sure that Hong Kong remains an international hub for media, business and finance.”

More than 90 per cent of Hong Kong companies, schools, and NGOs have incorporated artificial intelligence (AI) into their workflows, according to a survey.

According to a survey of 800 organisations conducted by the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited (HKIRC), 94 per cent said they had used AI tools.

Among those, 63 per cent had not established an internal AI usage policy for employees, while 68 per cent had not conducted any AI training, the survey found.

HKIRC CEO Wilson Wong said on Tuesday that employees at almost half of the surveyed organisations had used unauthorised AI tools.

“While the penetration rate of AI in the workplace is exceptionally high, most organisations still face security risks regarding governance, tool usage and training,” Wong was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the government’s Digital Policy Office (DPO).

He was speaking at a joint press conference on cybersecurity, alongside representatives from the DPO, the Hong Kong Police Force’s Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau, and the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT).

Security risks

Wong cited an earlier survey by the HKCERT, which found around 35 per cent of businesses using AI admitted to feeding company information into AI tools.

Some employees used open-source AI tools to process meeting minutes, for instance, which could lead to errors or data leaks, he added.

Wong said the HKIRC, which oversees Hong Kong domain names, would launch the Secure AI@Work Enablement Campaign to provide training and assistance in formulating AI policies, as well as suggestions for suitable AI tools and regulations on information that should not be processed by AI.

The campaign “will assist organisations in plugging governance gaps through training, AI strategy and policy formulation tools and advisory services,” the statement said.

Edmond Lai, chief digital officer of the Hong Kong Productivity Council, the parent organisation of the HKCERT, said that the HKCERT would seek to bolster public education and talent cultivation in AI and cybersecurity through publicity campaigns, such as AI-generated tram advertisements and videos.

A Hong Kong man who threw anti-government leaflets from his public housing flat has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to committing seditious acts.

Raymond Wong appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to receive a 10-month jail sentence handed down by Chief Magistrate Victor So for two counts of “doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention,” local media reported.

Wong, a 55-year-old construction worker, admitted to throwing the leaflets from his unit in On Tat Estate, Kwun Tong, on two occasions in October 2024 and December 2025.

He was arrested in April, and the following month, he pleaded guilty to the charges –  an offence under Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law, also known as Article 23.

In mitigation, he apologised to his girlfriend and his daughter, as their public housing unit would be reclaimed by the government due to his offence.

Citing a psychological report, Wong’s lawyers said that the defendant did not know how to control the resentment that had built up from losing his full-time job after the 2019 protests and the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Premeditated and planned’

Noting that the leaflets were thrown after National Day two years ago and before last year’s Legislative Council (LegCo) elections, Magistrate So said that Wong’s actions were “premeditated and planned to some degree.”

On October 2, 2024, Kwun Tong district councillor Hsu Yau-wai reported 41 sheets of paper to the police after finding them on the podium of Lai Tat House at the estate. The papers had slogans on them saying “kill police” and derogatory remarks about mainland Chinese people.

On December 5 last year, two days ahead of the “patriots only” LegCo polls, a property manager found papers scattered near that same area, with written slogans such as “Liberate Hong Kong, do not vote.”

Wong’s lawyers said on Tuesday that his methods were “primitive” and had limited impact compared with online posts.

So said he accepted the defence’s argument but pointed out that Wong explicitly incited people to kill police officers, mainland Chinese, and government officials.

Wong incited enmity towards the police and referred to mainland residents with “derogatory” and “dehumanising” language, and his use of the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong,” considered secessionist under Beijing’s national security law in Hong Kong, also challenged national sovereignty, the magistrate added.

Calls to boycott the LegCo polls also amounted to an effort to undermine public confidence in the city’s electoral system, So said.

The turnout for last year’s polls was the second-lowest on record, at 31.9 per cent. Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system in 2021 to ensure that only those deemed patriotic enough can run.

The move reduced democratic representation in the legislature, tightened control of elections and introduced requirements for candidates to obtain nominations from a small circle of political elites.

A Hong Kong couple arrested on suspicion of child neglect have said they were granted a birth certificate for their infant but will only be allowed to take him home once they are deemed “safe parents.”

Tsang Wai-bong and Kwan Pui-sin, the parents of a two-month-old infant, Danny, collected the birth certificate from the Immigration Department headquarters in Tseung Kwan O on Sunday, after initially refusing to undergo DNA tests to confirm their parentage.

The couple also told reporters outside the headquarters that they would be allowed to visit Danny for one hour this week and could take him home if they passed a parental assessment with government social workers.

“The social workers will assess our situation, including our ability to act as parents. If the social workers are satisfied with our performance and think that we are safe parents, we believe we can bring Danny home in no time,” said Tsang, Danny’s father.

As part of the assessment, social workers will inspect whether their living accommodation, at a hostel in Lai Chi Kok, is suitable for raising Danny, he said. If it is deemed unsuitable, the government will do its best to find an environment suited to caring for an infant.

Danny is now under a child protection order allowing the Social Welfare Department (SWD) to care for him instead of his parents.

Prior to the arrests, Danny had not had any medical check-ups since birth, which security chief Chris Tang said constituted child neglect when he announced the arrests on Tuesday. They agreed to undergo DNA tests and were confirmed to be Danny’s parents on Thursday.

The couple had said earlier that they practised “free births” and that their baby boy was born in Hong Kong around two months ago. His birth was not registered, although Hong Kong law stipulates that parents must register the birth of a newborn within 42 days of delivery.

Free birth, also called unassisted birth, involves a conscious decision to undergo pregnancy and give birth without professional maternity care or medical intervention. The trend has put the lives of mothers and babies at grave risk.

Their admission of practising “free births” gained widespread attention and sparked concern over Danny’s well-being.

Separately on Sunday, labour chief Chris Sun told journalists that Danny was in good condition in a care home and that social workers would continue to communicate with the two parents.

Tsang also said that he and his wife had signed documents authorising the government to send their DNA to Sweden, where their daughter Lily is now living with an adoptive family after Swedish authorities removed her from the couple’s care over health concerns in December 2023.

Hong Kong’s anti-graft watchdog has arrested seven people for alleged corruption in building maintenance projects, including the owner of a contractor firm who concealed his control over a company tasked with overseeing tendering.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said in a statement on Tuesday that it arrested five men and two women, aged from 37 to 75, who were part of a corruption syndicate in the building maintenance industry.

Among them were the chairman of an owners’ board, the proprietor of a maintenance contractor, the directors of a consultancy firm, and a registered inspector.

After investigating a report alleging corruption in the tender exercise for maintenance work at a building in Mong Kok, the ICAC found that the project contractor’s proprietor “allegedly controlled the project consultancy firm through his associates.”

‘Dual role’

According to the ICAC, the proprietor “secured the consultancy contract for the grand maintenance project at a low price, and concealed his dual roles as project contractor and consultant, along with his conflicting interests during the tendering process,” with the intention to induce the owners’ board “to select his company as the project contractor.”

The contractor eventually failed to secure the HK$20 million contract after property owners suspected irregularities in the tender exercise.

The ICAC also suspected the owners’ board chairman of bribery and alleged that the registered inspector, who maintained a full-time job in the finance industry, might not have carried out her duties in accordance with the Buildings Ordinance when signing inspection reports.

The consultancy firm and the contractor also concealed their affiliation in two other maintenance projects currently undergoing tender exercises – one in Tai Hang and another in Sham Shui Po – with contracts worth about HK$6 million.

The watchdog raided the offices of the consultancy firm and the contractor, as well as the suspects’ homes, seizing documents and accounting records related to the maintenance projects.

“The ICAC successfully intercepted these illicit activities and reminded property owners of potential corruption risks during contract awards,” it said.

“As the relevant corruption investigation is ongoing, the ICAC does not rule out further enforcement actions.”

The latest arrests come after the deadly fire at Wang Fuk Court brought to light bid-rigging and other illicit practices in the industry.

The watchdog appears to have ramped up anti-corruption arrests in maintenance projects in the months since the fire broke out.

The government-subsidised housing estate in Tai Po was undergoing large-scale maintenance work under a mandatory government order when the blaze broke out in November. The inferno – the biggest in Hong Kong in nearly eight decades – killed 168 people and displaced thousands of residents.

A former senior police inspector has been jailed for 30 months over misconduct in public office and accepting HK$1.4 million in bribes in exchange for leaking case details and dropping an investigation into a suspect.

During sentencing on Tuesday, Deputy District Judge Terence Wai reprimanded former chief inspector of police Ho Siu-tung, 40, “for undermining public confidence in the Police, eroding Hong Kong’s proud reputation for integrity, and striking at the foundation of the city’s rule of law,” the city’s anti-graft watchdog said in a statement issued the same day.

“The judge also ordered the defendant to make restitution of over $1.14 million to the Government, equivalent to the total sum of bribes involved in the present case, within 42 months after serving his jail term,” the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) added.

Last week, Ho pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in public office and two counts of accepting an advantage as a public servant.

According to the ICAC, the defendant, who was posted to Wan Chai District, was responsible for overseeing criminal investigations conducted by the District Anti-Triad Squad and the District Crime Squad.

In June 2021, he became acquainted with a merchant who reported a deception case. The merchant was also involved in an assault case, which was investigated by the Anti-Triad Squad under Ho’s supervision.

In August 2021, Ho recommended to his supervisor, a police superintendent, that the merchant be excluded from prosecution in the assault case and attempted to terminate the investigation. The defendant also ignored two enquiries from his superior as to whether further inquiries were needed.

Instead, Ho ordered his own subordinate to release the merchant, despite his being identified as the assailant by the victim in the assault case.

‘Favourably disposed’

The ICAC’s investigation revealed that over one and a half years, Ho accepted two HK$500,000 cash payments from the merchant, as well as gifts worth over HK$140,000, such as Burberry and Ralph Lauren children’s clothing, a Chanel handbag, a red packet for his son and wife, and the payment of medical bills for his mother.

Between September 2021 and October 2022, Ho told the merchant information from the police investigation, including personal data of suspects and individuals involved in two cases, police interview summaries, and bail statuses.

The two cases were the deception case reported by the merchant and a case of false instruments involving a friend of the merchant.

Ho was “favourably disposed to the merchant and his friend” during relevant investigations, “including abusing his authority to extend the Police bail of the suspect in the deception case, and abusing his authority at the merchant’s request to prolong or curtail the relevant investigative work in the use of false instruments case without justification,” the ICAC said in the statement.

In mitigation, the defence said that Ho faced mental and financial pressure from family issues and “fell into the abyss of selling his soul.” Considering Ho’s guilty plea and mitigation, Judge Wai handed down a 30-month prison sentence, down from a starting point of four years.