HONG KONG/SINGAPORE/BEIJING - Homeowners at the complex destroyed in one of Hong Kong's deadliest fires were incorrectly told the contractor that authorities blame for the blaze had a clean safety record, documents viewed by Reuters show. 

Residents were given the assurances by Will Power Architects, which was retained by their homeowners' corporation to evaluate bids for a renovation contract, according to a PowerPoint presentation created by the consultant.

In fact, the contractor, Prestige Construction & Engineering Co, had been penalised by the city's safety regulator more than a dozen times in the seven years before it was hired by the corporation to renovate the complex, according to the agency's records, including for improperly installing scaffolding and faulty electrical connections.

The fines were issued for violations of an industrial-safety ordinance between 2016 and 2019, according to Labour Department records. Offences under the code are typically prosecuted in a magistrate's court. 

This account of how Prestige won a HK$330 million (S$55 million) renovation contract on Will Power's recommendation, as well as the cascade of concerns about spiralling costs and fire hazards that followed, is based on interviews with two dozen people and a review of construction and regulatory records.

Residents, including some with experience in construction, repeatedly complained about workers smoking on-site and Prestige's use of flammable material in places like the scaffolding. They also made an aborted effort to revoke the firm's contract. 

Reuters could not determine why Will Power wrote in the undated presentation created for the homeowners' corporation that Prestige had "no record of being prosecuted by the Labour Department".

The news agency also could not establish whether the contractor disclosed the violations to Will Power or if it contested the penalties, though the records are only published online after any appeal has been exhausted. 

Will Power and Prestige did not respond to calls and letters left at their...