Posted on: Friday, April 27, 2001

Former trustee Wong pleads not guilty

Advertiser Staff

A not guilty plea was entered on behalf of former Kamehameha Schools trustee Richard "Dickie" Wong yesterday to charges that he lied to an O'ahu grand jury in April 1999 about a 1995 real estate deal with Wong's brother-in-law, Jeffrey Stone.

Wong was indicted April 19 on two counts of perjury, making it the fifth time that state lawyers have tried to prosecute a former trustee in connection with the sale of land under the Kalele Kai condominium in Hawai'i Kai.

Wong and fellow former Kamehameha Schools trustee Henry Peters were indicted on theft charges related to the sale of the land, but Circuit Judge Michael Town dismissed the theft case against the two in 1999.

Peters was reindicted and Town threw out the indictment a second time.

After the theft case against him was dismissed in early 1999, Wong was indicted later that year on charges that he lied about the land deal. Town dismissed that case against Wong last year.

Wong's lawyer, Eric Seitz, has said the latest indictment is based on "vindictiveness" on the part of the state attorney general's office.

He said it makes essentially the same allegations contained in the earlier perjury indictment dismissed by Town.

Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Goya said the allegations may be the same, but his office used a different "tack" in presenting evidence to the grand jury this time.

Circuit Judge Karen Ahn set a trial date of June 25.

Wong, former president of the state Senate, was released on his own recognizance.