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Former isle banker
Sia first ordered freed,
then held pending appeal

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By Tim Ruel
Star-Bulletin

A federal judge said today that Asian businessman Sukamto Sia should be released on bail pending an Oct. 31 trial, but agreed to keep him behind bars pending an appeal by the U.S. Attorney General's office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Omer Poirier said he would appeal the bail ruling tomorrow.

While Federal Magistrate Barry Kurren called Sia a possible flight risk, Kurren did not think the U.S. government had showed enough evidence that he would leave the United States.

Kurren placed several conditions on Sia's release, including $150,000 in cash and two Hawaii properties with equity worth a total of $760,000, all posted by friends.

Stockbroker Al Souza, friend of Sia for 15 years, offered his Waialeale home, worth $320,000 in remaining equity. Eric Yanagihara, formerly Sia's Hawaii asset manager and former senior vice president of Bank of Hawaii, offered remaining equity in his Waialae Ridge home, worth $440,000.

Also, attorney Jon Miho will post a cashier's check worth $100,000 and Sia lawyer Renton Nip will post $50,000.

Entertainer Danny Keleikini offered testimony in support of Sia's release.

Federal authorities downplayed the significance of the collateral, arguing that Sia could leave the country, then later make it up to his friends for what they would lose.

"This person is an extraordinary flight risk," said Poirier during the hearing.

Sia, born in Indonesia, has family in Singapore and lives in Macao, which was recently taken back as part of mainland China. Neither China nor Singapore has extradition treaties with the United States, Poirier said.

A federal 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.

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.

Sia, 41, got involved with Bank of Honolulu in 1987 when his father-in-law, the rich and influential Atang Latief, bought 70 percent of the bank and Sia bought 30 percent. Latief later sold his shares to Sia.