2 liquor inspectors’
bribery trial begins
The federal corruption trial of two former Honolulu Liquor Commission investigators opened yesterday with the government alleging the two were "on the payroll" of local clubs and "sold their public office for profit."
"Boiled down, this case is about greed and about corruption and about selling a public office for (personal) profit," Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Michael Seabright said in his opening statement.
Seabright alleged that retired liquor supervisor Harvey T. Hiranaka and former investigator Eduardo C. Mina "received money in return for looking the other way or not enforcing the rules and laws."
Hiranaka and Mina are both on trial for racketeering charges and conspiracy to racketeer, related to allegedly accepting payments from club or bar owners in exchange for not citing them for violations. Liquor investigators oversee violations ranging from the activities of dancers and patrons in clubs to the presence of minors or employees drinking during a shift.
As part of the alleged ongoing criminal activity or racketeering, Hiranaka faces nine counts of extortion for allegedly taking money from nine different clubs in exchange for not enforcing regulations. Mina faces three counts of allegedly taking money from three clubs.
If convicted, they face 20 years on each count.
In May 2002, eight investigators were charged in connection with the alleged extortion conspiracy. Six have pleaded guilty, and only Hiranaka and Mina are standing trial. The six other investigators are expected to take the stand during the two-week trial.
In her opening statement, Pamela Byrne, an assistant federal public defender, cautioned the jury to be wary of these co-defendants because they are hoping to gain "sentence benefits" for their testimony.
She said that as a supervisor, Hiranaka, who started working for the commission in 1973, was not in a position to inspect clubs or write up violations, so he could not be influenced by cash gifts.
Byrne told the jury Hiranaka accepted gifts and not bribes and that "for decades there has been a tradition of gift-giving from the bars during the Christmas season." She added: "It's local style. ... It's part of a gift-giving culture, not a bribe."
Byrne told the jury that bars pay "cash gratuities for good will or aloha, not for making an event happen."
She said: "This has been completely blown out of proportion. It is a local custom nuked into racketeering and corruption."
Mina's attorney, Clifford Hunt, said his client joined the commission in July 1997 but never fit in and was shut out of the conspiracy.
Hunt spent much of his opening statements trying to discredit Charles Wiggins, a former liquor investigator who collected much of the government's evidence on his fellow workers for the FBI.
He said Wiggins, who left the Honolulu Police Department with $1,100 a month in disability pay for a back injury before joining the Liquor Commission, took leave from the commission "to heal" his back. Hunt said that instead, Wiggins used the time to try to open a store, the Better Back Store, and to compete as a weightlifter. He said Wiggins filed for bankruptcy and then decided to work for the FBI's investigation, which compensated him for expenses.
Wiggins, who is expected to testify, wore a radio transmitter and recording device while working for the FBI between Oct. 20, 2000, and May 3, 2001, according to Seabright and testimony from FBI Special Agent Miles Yamane.
Yamane said Wiggins was paid more than $8,000 during that seven-month period.
During his opening statement, Seabright said Wiggins uncovered "massive corruption in the pattern of taking bribes, extorting and selling their office." He said investigators were either paid directly or indirectly by bar owners. He cited examples in which bar owners gave the defendants cash, typically in $100 installments, or gave one investigator money to split with others.
Seabright said that when Mina was finally interviewed by FBI agents, he "admitted to receiving money from clubs and called money collections at the Liquor Commission 'rampant.'"
Seabright also said jurors will hear on the tapes how Hiranaka refers to "being on the payroll" of the bars.