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Honolulu
architectural firm
files for liquidation

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Star-Bulletin staff

Downtown architectural firm Okita Kunimitsu & Associates Inc. has filed Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy, claiming assets of $147,185 and debts of $3.75 million.

The company, incorporated by John Okita and Ronald Kunimitsu in 1981, has seen annual revenues drop 35.5 percent to $742,133 this year from $1.15 million in 1998, according to a petition filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court last week. The firm's main asset is the equipment in its office at 1100 Alakea St., while its biggest liability is unsecured trade debt.

The firm has more than 100 creditors, records show.

Both Okita and Kunimitsu last year offered testimony to an Oahu grand jury investigating an alleged illegal campaign scheme involving Kamehameha Schools, then known as Bishop Estate.

The state attorney general's office has alleged that a former estate employee had in 1996 urged Okita Kunimitsu and several other local firms to pay a $12,334.44 campaign debt owed by former Sen. Milton Holt.

All of the firms, which had been awarded thousands of dollars in nonbid contracts by the private trust, have disputed the allegations.