Posted on: Saturday, April 9, 2005
Political donations case to proceed
By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer
City prosecutors are expected to present to the O'ahu grand jury next week an illegal campaign donations case against the longtime secretary for Honolulu businessman and engineer Dennis Mitsunaga who was a key fund-raiser for numerous Democratic Party politicians.
The city deputy prosecutor handling the illegal campaign donations prosecution said he could not comment about any matters involving the secret grand jury proceedings.
But others close to the case who did not want their names used because of the confidential nature of the grand jury said the proceedings involve Mitsunaga's employee Terri Otani.
Otani's lawyer Lynn Panagakos yesterday said her client "adamantly" denies any wrongdoing. The lawyer also cited a privately administered polygraph test Otani took in October in which she was found to be truthful in saying she never solicited any illegal campaign contributions.
"They're trying to scare the hell out of someone's secretary to say something about the boss," Mitsunaga's lawyer Michael Green said yesterday.
Mitsunaga's name was mentioned by a city prosecutor last year who said an engineer told authorities illegal donations were solicited by Mitsunaga, who had been influential in getting the engineer state and city jobs.
Mitsunaga has not been charged with any crime and has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. He has called the allegations against him "completely untrue." Green yesterday said Mitsunaga did not have the authority to award contracts and did not know the members of the boards who awarded them.
Green said Mitsunaga's name has been publicly maligned for the past five years.
The case scheduled to be presented to the grand jurors Thursday involves misdemeanor violations, those close to the case said. The violations are similar to the charges against dozens of architects, engineers and others who have been prosecuted for submitting political contributions under false names or over the campaign donation limits.
Among them were Mitsunaga's brother, Dwight Mitsunaga, and Mitsunaga's second cousin, Wesley Segawa, former chairman of the Housing and Community Development Corp.
The charges were part of the city prosecutor's office three-year investigation centering on donations to former Mayor Jeremy Harris, who has never been charged with wrongdoing. Harris' lawyers have repeatedly denied he committed any crimes.
Mitsunaga, president of one of the state's largest engineering and architectural consulting companies, was a fund-raiser for Harris, former Gov. Ben Cayetano and other politicians.
When he publicly denied the allegations, Mitsunaga said he also took a polygraph test by Michael Orian's Orian Polygraph Investigative Services last year. The results indicated he was truthful when he denied soliciting illegal political donations, he said.
The illegal donations prosecution is now being handled by Deputy Prosecutor Chris Van Marter, who said he cannot comment on any confidential grand jury proceedings, out of fairness to people being investigated.
Van Marter replaced former deputy prosecutor Randal Lee, who has been appointed a Circuit Court judge.
Reach Ken Kobayashi at 525-8030 or kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.
