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Sia to be
locked up
for holiday

A judge postpones
a bail hearing on
the former Hawaii
banker until Tuesday

---

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

"He's ohana," said a visibly shaken Danny Keleikini, after federal marshalls led businessman Sukamto Sia away in shackles to spend the long Labor Day weekend in a holding cell. "He's family."

The entertainer was among several witnesses who came to support Sia at a detention hearing yesterday before Federal Magistrate Barry Kurren.

The 41-year-old Sia, a citizen of Singapore who lives in Macao, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday on three counts of bankruptcy fraud.

Federal authorities want him held without bail until the Oct. 31 trial.

The indictment alleges Sia knowingly hid more than $7 million in December of 1997 before filing for bankruptcy in Honolulu in November of 1998. He is also charged with spending nearly $800,000 in state tax returns that should have been paid into his bankruptcy estate.

Dressed in green prison garb and looking a little disheveled, Sia stood before Kurren and asked for his release pending trial.

"Of course, these days I can't assume anything but with so many friends here to support me I won't disappoint them," said. "I won't be a fugitive all my life."

But, acting on the request of federal prosecutors, Kurren postponed the hearing until Tuesday and ordered Sia held without bail pending trial next month.

The question before the court remains whether to hold Sia without bail pending is

Assistant U.S. Attorney Omer Poirier asked for more time to locate a sister-in-law of Sia who allegedly saw a box containing "various identity documents."

Poirier also said his office is trying to locate an employee of a Nevada casino said to have been told by Sia that any debts would have to be collected while he was in the United States because he did not plan to come back.

Poirier also wanted time to research extradition procedures in Macao, which might be complicated since the colony was recently taken back as part of mainland China.

Joining Keleikini in support of Sia at yesterday's hearing were Honolulu attorney John Miho, stockbroker Al Souza and Eric Yanagihara, lead trustee of a charitable foundation supported by Sia to benefit Hawaii's children.

"They're just trying to throw him in in jail for four days to humiliate him," said Miho, who walked off in disgust.

Sia's attorney, John Edmunds, offered to post a $150,000 cashier's check as bail, money he said was put up by friends of Sia.

But Kurren said too many questions remain regarding Sia's likelihood to take flight.

Sia, a former director and major shareholder in Bank of Honolulu, filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 8, 1998 listing $296.4 million in debts and $9.3 million in assets. The bankruptcy was filed a month after his arrest in Las Vegas on charges of bouncing more than $13 million in checks at several casinos.

Sia has blamed his financial woes on a downturn in the Asian economy.