Cayetano says loss of
project funds probed

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

Gov. Ben Cayetano confirmed that the state attorney general's office is conducting a criminal investigation of a former state worker who may have stolen $300,000 from two state construction projects.

Cayetano yesterday said the investigation was prompted by an audit of Department of Accounting and General Services construction projects.

The investigation, which has been going on for a year, is focused on a former DAGS supervisor, and possibly a business, which were connected with two state projects in recent years, including the $67 million renovation of the state Capitol.

"There's an audit process that we use, and in this particular case it did come up with this irregularity, and that led to investigating in other areas where this person was in a position and had some supervisor authority," Cayetano said.

The governor said he wants to make sure the state has substantial evidence to seek prosecution before he releases any names. The evidence so far shows more than one person was involved, he said.

"The person who is the subject of this is no longer in Hawaii. But if the evidence unveils that there has been criminal wrongdoing, we will find this person," Cayetano said.

He said television news reports incorrectly said $3 million was stolen, and that the figure actually is less than a tenth of that.

The two projects involved the Capitol renovation and a much smaller construction project, which he declined to name.

The case appears to be isolated and is not tied to the city's Ewa Villages scandal, he said. That case involved the bilking of millions of dollars in false and exorbitant billings to the city for moving expenses during the Ewa Villages renovation, part of the city's revitalization project for the Ewa plain.

"Any time something like this happens it is serious," Cayetano said. "It costs the taxpayers money."