Posted on: Thursday, July 29, 2004
Two former state officials indicted in airport scheme
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Former state officials Dennis Hirokawa and Richard Okada were indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday, charged with being key players in an alleged $2.5 million cash-for-contracts kickback scheme at Honolulu International Airport.
Hirokawa headed the O'ahu airport maintenance office and Okada was chief of the state Transportation Department's Visitor Information Program when they were first arrested more than two years ago by state investigators looking into the award of hundreds of "small" airport repair contracts worth no more than $25,000 each.
Hirokawa and Okada retired from their state jobs in 2002, and were named as defendants in a $1 million civil fraud lawsuit filed by the state last year. But neither had been charged with a criminal offense until yesterday.
Hirokawa is charged with one count of criminal conspiracy and 16 counts of mail fraud. Okada is charged with one conspiracy count. Both men deny any wrongdoing.
Charged last month in the federal investigation were contractors Michael Furukawa and Wesley Uemura. A federal court trial has been set for September for Furukawa and Uemura, accused of rigging bids to obtain airport contracts.
Furukawa of MF Masonry and Uemura of Wes' Contracting have pleaded not guilty.
A 33-count federal grand jury indictment filed June 30 charges the two contractors with conspiracy and mail fraud in connection with inflated bids sent through the U.S. mail from 1998 to 2001. Prosecutors say the two set up dummy companies in a scheme that ensured they would win the contracts.
Prosecutors say that, beginning in 1998, the four men conspired to rig bids for airport contracts. Costs were artificially inflated and "as a result of this corruption in the bidding process, the financial loss to the state of Hawai'i exceeded $2.5 million," the U.S. attorney's office said yesterday.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2447.
