Roy T. Tsutsui, vice president of R.M. Towill Corp., was booked at the Honolulu Police Department's main station cellblock at 5:15 a.m. on suspicion of illegal ownership of a business, money laundering, and making campaign contributions under a false name.

Tsutsui, 52, was released pending further investigation. He was not in his office today, and company officials had no immediate comment.

Tsutsui's arrest came three months after R.M. Towill filed a motion to quash a prosecution subpoena for company financial records and other information. The company argued that the subpoena was overly broad and failed to identify the target of the investigation.

At least one R.M. Towill official was subpoenaed to appear last September before a grand jury investigating Harris' campaign finances and the awarding of city contracts. No Towill officials have been formally charged with wrongdoing since then.

An assistant to City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said police had not presented Tsutsui's case to prosecutors yet, and that he could not specify who the alleged improper campaign contributions related to.

Harris' attorney has repeatedly stated that Harris never solicited or knowingly accepted illegal campaign money, and that the investigation has become a witch hunt.

The Harris administration has awarded contracts to R.M. Towill worth at least $23 million for work at the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, 'Ewa Villages revitalization project, and numerous other sewer system, canal, park and road projects, records show.

Towill and its employees and their relatives donated more than $40,000 to Harris since 1996, state Campaign Spending Commission records show.

The head of another engineering firm that gave heavily to Harris and received lucrative city contracts, SSFM International, pleaded no contest last December to felony money laundering and misdemeanor campaign finance charges.

The executive, Michael Matsumoto, awaits sentencing. Three others associated with SSFM were charged with misdemeanors.