Prosecutor halts inquiry in Okinawan funds case
City prosecutors have decided not to pursue criminal charges relating to the alleged embezzlement of more than $50,000 from the Hawaii United Okinawa Association.The decision by Prosecuting Attorney Peter Carlisle was based on the reluctance of association officials to press charges, Deputy Prosecutor Randy Lee said yesterday.
"The association has recovered the funds and has no desire to pursue the matter," said Lee, supervising attorney for white-collar crime cases. "They deem the case closed."
Lee also said a series of delays, including earlier decisions by police, prosecutors, and the association, made it unreasonable to prosecute the case at this time.
Prosecutors last month subpoenaed association documents relating to the case but had not obtained any records before making their decision.
It is a disappointment to Michael Abe, who discovered that the money was missing in April 1995 and has been pushing police and prosecutors for a full investigation.
Abe, who was beginning a one-year term as association president when he made the discovery, says the group's current leaders worked to block the probe despite "clear and strong" evidence of embezzlement.
"It's not the right thing to do," Abe said. "The association has not done a thorough enough investigation to know all that was taken or what was involved, and some material information was not disclosed to the board."
The association earlier accused former president Wilfred Hokama of shifting $48,000 into an unauthorized bank account while heading the group from April 1994 through March 1995.
According to a 1995 lawsuit, Hokama deposited money into the account, which was not disclosed to other officials, and later transferred funds into his personal bank account.
The suit was dropped in 1996 after a confidential settlement was reached between Hokama and the association.
Fishman backs budget chief on assessments
City Budget Director Malcolm Tom has not tried to influence property tax assessments on Waikiki properties, according to Managing Director Bob Fishman.But Duke Bainum, former Council Budget chairman, has called for an investigation into the allegations of impropriety from employees of the Real Property Assessment Division.
Fishman noted that division employees may be complaining because they are being laid off. Mayor Jeremy Harris earlier this month said 51 employees in the division are being laid off because he wants assessments to be done every three years instead of annually.
Fishman said yesterday that Tom, when he became budget director in 1995, talked to appraisers and suggested that properties in the Waikiki area were being assessed too low.
Some properties were later assessed higher -- before tax bills went out that year, Fishman said, but that's because the division determined that it had used an untested assessment method to calculate values.Fishman said Tom was not out of place to offer his advice to tax assessors.
Officials gave reporters assessment information regarding six Waikiki businesses showing how assessments were changed from the time assessors made their conclusion to when bills were sent out to the landowners.
In each case, the assessments were later appealed successfully to either the Tax Appeal Court or the Tax Board of Review, and lower assessments resulted.
UH is not conducting phone survey on AIDS
University of Hawaii spokesman Jim Manke said yesterday that the UH is not conducting a survey about AIDS.Manke was responding to complaints about a telephone caller claiming to be a taking a survey for the university.
The questions quickly become "extremely personal and totally inappropriate," Manke said.
The caller also provides unverifiable, bogus information.
People who receive such calls are advised to hang up, then report the incident to the telephone company at 1-800-257-2969, or police at 911.
Maui boy hurt by blast in chemistry class
WAILUKU -- A Lahainaluna High School student was injured in an explosion in a chemistry laboratory yesterday afternoon.Assistant Fire Chief Clayton Ishikawa said the boy, about age 16, was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Maui Memorial Hospital, after the "small explosion" at 1:10 p.m.
"It flashed on his face," Ishikawa said. The boy was not admitted to the hospital.
Fishermen offer reward in dead turtles case
Three akule fishermen were to offer a $1,000 reward today to help find the owner of the 300-foot gillnet that killed five green sea turtles off Waialae Beach Park near Kawela Bay Saturday.Carl Jellings, Mike Sur and Anthony Saito came up with the reward.They were to be joined at the news conference by another akule fisherman concerned about irresponsible fishing practices.
Michael Wilson, director, state Department of Land and Natural Resources, and Gary Moniz, acting enforcement chief, also were to provide information about the state informant's fee program.
This program awards half of any fine imposed and collected from a conviction to the individual who provided information leading to the successful prosecution of a person violating Hawaii's ocean protection laws.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffFormer HPD officer arrested in rape case
A former Honolulu police officer has been arrested in connection with the March 9 rape of a woman.The woman, who knows the man, reported that the suspect tied her up in a room in the Executive Centre Hotel downtown and raped her while at least one and possibly two people watched, police said. The suspect, 28, was arrested yesterday when he turned himself in to authorities.
He was released pending further investigation, police said.
In other news...
Police yesterday arrested a man and a woman for allegedly stealing money from a business in Waikele. The woman, 37, allegedly gave the man, 21, some price tags from the floor and he rang them up as a return, police said.
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