Option A - CORRECT.
According to the writer the speech is been reported to a person who was not at the event which has taken place in his/her absence. Using the word ''was'' shows that it is a past event and also retrying to justify the fact that the engineer has lied about the structure weight-bearing ability of the building which has cost some commuters their life.

Option B - INCORRECT.
Using the word ''was not'' does not give full detail of what the engineer has said about the disturbing issue that has arouse in the community. a continue of the sentence is needed here to clarify the thought of the listener.

Option C - INCORRECT.
At the beginning of the sentence it is obvious that ''Unfortunately'' was used to begin the tragic incident, which means aside it being an awkward incident an unjustifiable statement has been made against them as well.

Option D - INCORRECT.
However the use of ''had'' makes it seem as if it wasn't the engineer that made the speech at the hearing and also it seems as if the bad occurrence didn't take place at all.

Option E - INCORRECT.
The word ''been'' and ''being'' can't be used at the same time, it is a tautology and this makes the sentence sound as a grammatical blonder.