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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, February 5, 2003

Two plead no contest in donation scheme

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two associates of a Honolulu engineering executive who last week admitted funneling illegal campaign contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris pleaded no contest yesterday to misdemeanor charges for their involvement in the scheme.

Under the terms of a plea bargain, Clayton Wong and Warren Sato agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their continuing investigation and were fined $1,000 each.

Wong is a former officer at SSFM International Inc., where Sato still works. The two were accused of making campaign contributions to Harris under false names.

Michael Matsumoto, SSFM president and chief executive officer, pleaded no contest last Thursday to felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from donations totaling nearly $140,000 that were illegally steered to Harris between 1996 and 2001.

Two additional SSFM officials have also been accused of making misdemeanor false-name contributions.

Deputy city prosecutor Randal Lee said yesterday's pleas should serve as further warning that such activity will not be tolerated.

"It's another step toward informing the public and the family and friends of people who are thinking about making illegal campaign contributions not to do it, because they will be prosecuted," he said.

State District Court Judge Collette Garibaldi agreed to defer acceptance of the pleas, meaning they will not result in convictions if Wong and Sato are not charged with additional offenses for one year.

Wong's attorney, Birney Bervar, said Wong wanted to put the case to rest. Sato's attorney would not comment.

The plea bargain requires that prosecutors not seek charges against people who allegedly made contributions to Harris at the behest of Wong and Sato.

Matsumoto is scheduled to be sentenced in July. Prosecutors say they will not ask that he be sentenced to prison time.

SSFM has been awarded city contracts worth at least $7,039,000 during Harris' tenure as mayor. Honolulu Corporation Counsel David Arakawa said last week that a review of city contracts indicates they have all been procured properly, without regard to campaign contributions.

State law allows political supporters to donate no more than $4,000 to a candidate for mayor during a four-year election cycle, and no more than $6,000 to a candidate for governor.

Robert Watada, State Campaign Spending Commission director, said SSFM and people closely linked to the firm had donated a total of nearly $500,000 to several political candidates since 1996. At least $200,000 went to the Harris campaign, and another $100,000 went to the campaign of former Gov. Ben Cayetano, he said.

The commission, and prosecutors, are investigating campaign contributions made by other companies in the past few years. City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle has said that many other people will likely face charges soon.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.