Judge will decide
restitution tab in
Ewa Villages scam

The state asks that former
city official Michael Kahapea
pay back $3.5 million

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By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

The state says convicted city housing official Michael Kahapea should pay back nearly $3.5 million -- the portion he received of $5.8 million stolen in the Ewa Villages scandal -- the biggest scam in the city's history.

But Circuit Judge Reynaldo Graulty said yesterday that there needs to be an evidentiary hearing on how the state arrived at those figures, and set it for June 25.

Graulty also denied the defense's motion to dismiss the state's request for restitution, saying he will give the state another opportunity to produce evidence.

But he advised that he was inclined to reject the state's request if prosecutors do not come prepared at the next hearing.

Kahapea was convicted last August of stealing $5.8 million in a bid-rigging scheme where the city paid for relocation work at inflated prices or for work that was never performed. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for 43 counts, including theft, money laundering, illegal ownership of a business, bribery and failure to report income.

Don Wilkerson, Kahapea's attorney, said Kahapea has a right to an evidentiary hearing. Relying on the state's arbitrary figures would deny his client his due-process rights, he said.

Many people were involved in the fraud, including two individuals who were "centrally involved" but died before they could go to trial.

Their culpability and the amount of loss attributed to them were not mentioned in the state's calculations of the amount Kahapea allegedly owes, Wilkerson said.

"Mr. Kahapea does not willfully accept responsibility for actions of other people in this scam."

At trial, to convict Kahapea of first-degree theft, the jury had to only find him guilty of taking $20,000 or more. "Just because they found him guilty doesn't mean the jury found him responsible for all the money," Wilkerson said.