Key figure in
Ewa Villages
scandal dies

Norman Tam, 56, was
to be tried on 34 charges
in the city corruption case

More obituaries

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Norman Tam, one of the key figures in the city's Ewa Villages scandal, died of an apparent heart attack on New Year's Eve. He was 56.

A secretary at the First Chinese Church of Christ, where Tam was a longtime member, confirmed the death. She said services are set for 2 p.m. Sunday with visitation from 1:30 to 2 p.m.

Tam was to go on trial May 1 on 34 counts of theft, forgery, money laundering, bribery and related charges in connection with the theft of some $5.5 million in relocation funds tied to the Ewa Villages revitalization project.

Tam was the third of nine people indicted in the case to die. Russell J. Williams and Keith Ringler, two other defendants, died in 1999 of natural causes.

Tam was the city's fair-housing officer and a 17-year employee of the city Department of Housing and Community Development.

In late 1997 he and fellow city employee Michael Kahapea were arrested in what was exposed as one of the largest public corruption cases in Hawaii.

Prosecutors said Kahapea, city property management branch chief, enlisted Tam and others to help divert money from the relocation fund into contracts with moving companies that either were phony or did not do the work for which they were paid.

"Because of ... Tam's knowledge of city procedures, he was able to mislead other city employees to believe that commercial tenants had been relocated from Ewa Villages" when often they were not, according to Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Young.

Tam also "manipulated the city process by submitting fraudulent bid lists and documents as part of the payment request forms," Young wrote in court documents.

In June 1998, Tam was granted supervised release into the custody of his elderly mother. Mark Zenger, Tam's attorney, described his client as no more than a "foot soldier" caught in the middle of the complicated bilking scheme.

Zenger also called Tam "a kindhearted, intelligent family man" who was supporting an adopted teen-age daughter and her young child.

Police detectives said while they don't know how much Tam allegedly took, he never explained some $62,000 in bank deposits over four years that were not tied to his employment.

Tam was considered one of the state's experts on the Hawaii Landlord and Tenant Code, often conducting seminars for the public. Even after his arrest, Tam was hired to conduct a two-hour seminar on "project management and tenant rights" for state and city employees.