Arrested airport workers rehired
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Three state employees arrested and suspended without pay in the investigation of a widespread bribery and kickback scandal at Honolulu International Airport later returned to the state payroll, although one has since retired and another will retire at the end of this month, officials said yesterday.
Advertiser library photo • June 25, 2002
The investigation, originally conducted internally by the state Transportation Department and then by the attorney general's office, has now widened to the point that federal law enforcement agencies are expected to join the case, perhaps as early as this week.
Airport employees Dennis Hirokawa, left middle, and Antonio Bio were arrested in June; both returned to work in July.
No one has been charged in the investigation. Besides the three state employees, a number of airport contractors have been arrested and released.
One of the state workers, airport maintenance superintendent Dennis Hirokawa, was suspended without pay the day after his June 25 arrest by the attorney general's office, then returned to work July 26 before retiring Sept. 1, according to Roy Sakata, acting state airports administrator.
Airport maintenance supervisor Antonio Bio, a second employee arrested June 25, was suspended without pay for 30 days beginning June 26 but returned to work July 26, Sakata said. Bio was originally assigned to a job in the state harbors division but later was reassigned to a temporary job in the highways division where he is now working, Sakata said.
State civil-service rules limit leaves without pay to 30 days for employees in the job classifications held by Hirokawa and Bio, Sakata said.
The third employee arrested in the case, Richard Okada, head of the Visitor Information Program for the state Transportation Department, retires Oct. 1. He was placed on leave-without-pay status for 60 days beginning July 3, then began a temporary assignment Sept. 3 in the highways division, Sakata said. Because Okada was in a job exempt from some civil-service rules, the state was able to suspend him without pay for two consecutive 30-day terms before being required to bring him back on the payroll, Sakata said.
The investigation centers on alleged favoritism and kickbacks in the award of hundreds of small airport repair and maintenance contracts worth less than $25,000. Sources familiar with the case, who asked not to be identified because the investigation is ongoing, said it is expanding to include larger, sealed-bid construction contracts worth as much as $3 million.
Some of the jobs involved federal money, leading the state investigators to seek assistance from the federal government, bringing greater investigative resources and harsher criminal sanctions into play, sources said.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8447
