Wednesday, October 21, 1998
Whatever happened to the Ewa Villages relocation scandal in which two fired city workers and others were indicted for bilking millions in taxpayer money? Ewa fraud scandal
set for July ’99 trialTrial for the Ewa Villages fraud scandal has been pushed back until July 12, 1999.
The case now involves seven defendants. That means trying to accommodate the schedules of at least seven sets of attorneys, prosecutors say.
The complex nature and large scope of the case also involves a lot of paperwork shuffle. Pretrial motions are due in January.
In all, 21 people have been arrested in the Ewa Villages scandal. More than $5.5 million in taxpayer money is believed to have been bilked from the city's relocation fund for commercial entities in Ewa Villages.
City checks were written to sometimes-bogus moving companies for work not done or done at exorbitant costs, charges say.
The case centers around Michael Kahapea, the city's former property management division chief. According to his indictment, Kahapea illegally hired, then paid city funds to friends and relatives for the sometimes bogus moves.
Kahapea, charged with 47 criminal counts, is out on supervised release. The six other defendants charged so far in the case are also out on supervised release or bail.
Donald Hall, one of the eight people originally indicted, pleaded guilty in June and has promised to provide evidence against Kahapea.
By Gordon Pang, Star-Bulletin
Ever wonder what happened to a person, event or issue
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