Campaign probe
hits police officialLeonard Leong of the Police
Commission is accused of
making illegal donations
City prosecutors are issuing a criminal complaint against a member of the Honolulu Police Commission for allegedly making illegal campaign contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris.
Prosecutors sent the complaint to state District Court this week alleging that Leonard Leong, a vice president with Royal Contracting Co., made political contributions under false names, according to people familiar with the complaint.
Leong declined comment, saying he had not received the complaint.
Details of the charges were not available, and state District Court clerks declined to confirm or deny that they had received it. A court official later told the Star-Bulletin that such records are not considered public until the defendants are served.
The prosecutor's office, Honolulu police and the state Campaign Spending Commission have been investigating Leong and his relatives, who donated more than $23,000 to Harris' campaigns.
Harris' filings with the Campaign Spending Commission show that Leong; his wife, Sherrilyn; his sister Lisa Ann Leong; his father, Wally Leong; and his son Paul Leong made more than a dozen contributions to Harris since 1996.
Making a political contribution under a false name is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
Leong, who has served on the Police Commission since 1996, also figures in prosecutors' investigation into Royal Contracting's gift of dozens of historic city curbstones to city Managing Director Ben Lee.
Both Lee and Leong have denied wrongdoing, saying the stones had no value. Lee returned the curbstones to the city.
Leong's company, Royal Contracting, is a major city contractor that has received more than $38 million in city construction work since 1994. Projects include a $4.5 million road repair contract in 2000 and $10.8 million in emergency sewer line and sinkhole repairs in Moiliili in 2002.
The city contracts were awarded through competitive bidding. City officials have said campaign contributions have no influence on the awarding of contracts.
