Nine persons, including an employee of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), have been arrested by the ICAC for allegedly manipulating piling test records to cover up suspected non-compliant works at a construction site at the Nam Cheong Station of the West Rail.

The investigation arose from a corruption complaint alleging that some supervisory staff at the Nam Cheong Station site might have connived at substandard works carried out by a piling subcontractor.

Arrested in the ICAC operation code-named " Xichang ", commencing yesterday (Wednesday), were an Inspector of Works of KCRC; two site engineers of a construction company; four piling workers and a foreman of a piling subcontractor; and an assistant inspector of a consultancy firm.

The Nam Cheong Station project involves the construction of a commercial and residential complex. The foundation works for three of the residential blocks were subcontracted to a piling company,

KCRC seconded an Inspector of Works to an independent consultancy firm, which supervised the whole project, including the piling works.

The Inspector of Works was required to witness the "final set tests" performed on all the piles driven and to ensure the tests were conducted in accordance with the required specifications.

Investigations alleged that of the 1,500 piles driven at the site of the three residential blocks, test records in relation to more than 700 of them had been fraudulently tampered with, in order to show that these piles had met the prescribed requirement.

It is suspected that some supervisory staff at the site might have corruptly connived at non-compliant works carried out by the subcontractor.

The senior management of the KCRC rendered full co-operation and assistance to the ICAC during the investigation.

The arrestees have been released on ICAC bail. Inquiries in relation to the corruption allegation continue.