Posted on: Monday, November 3, 2003

Bus workers charged with evading taxes

Associated Press

Two city transit employees have been named in separate indictments charging them with multiple counts of tax evasion.

Ernest Fain and Joseph Nuuanu attempted to evade state income taxes on income earned from O'ahu Transit Services Inc., the company that runs the bus system for the city, Attorney General Mark Bennett said.

Fain, 42, of Kapolei, and Nuuanu, 55, of 'Ewa Beach, filed false employee withholding certificates with the company, claiming 99 withholding allowances, and the two then failed to file their state individual income tax returns, Bennett said.

Fain is accused of attempting to evade state income taxes on $246,616 in gross income earned over a five-year period ending last year. Nuuanu allegedly tried to evade taxes on $201,632 earned from 1999 to last year.

Fain is charged with five counts of attempt to evade or defeat a tax, and Nuuanu is charged with four counts of the same offense. Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.