3 charged for alleged
illegal gifts to HarrisThe engineers are accused of
excessive campaign donations
City prosecutors have filed criminal charges against three local engineers, alleging they made illegal political donations to Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign.
In separate complaints filed in state District Court this month, prosecutors charged that Sam Hyun, Ernest Hirata and Kendall Hee made excessive political donations and gave money under false names.
The new charges were filed in the same month that an Oahu grand jury indicted nine people linked to the engineering firm R.M. Towill Corp. on similar violations of the state campaign finance laws.
Hyun, Hee and Hirata had no comment yesterday. Prosecutors also declined response.
If convicted, each faces up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
Hyun is an engineer with W.A. Hirai & Associates Inc., which was fined $19,000 by the state Campaign Spending Commission in March for making $30,000 in illegal political donations to Harris, former Gov. Ben Cayetano, ex-Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and former Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana.
In July, Honolulu police, working with city prosecutors, arrested Hyun on suspicion of money laundering, making a false-name political donation and exceeding campaign donation limits.
Hee is president of Engineers Surveyors Hawaii Inc., which was fined $49,300 by the Campaign Spending Commission in February for making $80,000 in illegal contributions to Harris, Cayetano, Hirono and Apana.
HPD arrested Hee and his relatives, Dean and Deanne Grathwohl, in July on suspicion of money laundering and making false-name political donations.
The Hirata firm, meanwhile, is in discussions with the Campaign Spending Commission to settle the state agency's investigation.
According to commission records, Hirata employees and their relatives contributed more than $18,000 to the Harris campaign since 1996.
Under state law, a donor can give no more than $4,000 to a mayoral candidate during a four-year election cycle.
Since their investigation began in 2002, the Prosecutor's Office has obtained criminal charges against more than 15 donors linked to major city contractors. Several -- including SSFM International Inc. Chief Executive Officer Michael Matsumoto and Royal Contracting Co. Vice President and former Honolulu Police Commissioner Leonard Leong -- pleaded no contest to the charges.
