Carlisle has high praise
for Harris funds probe
The prosecutor says a "culture
of corruption" has come to a close
Newly re-elected city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said he could not predict when his office will complete its investigation into Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign. But he said the investigation is already bearing fruit.
"The key to this entire investigation is to eliminate the culture of corruption. The idea is not necessarily to have people strung up, drawn and quartered and put in jail for long periods of time," Carlisle said.
"The idea is to get people to stop this because it is a threat to the Democratic process. To a large extent, this has already occurred. Something that has been going on for decades has now come to a grinding halt."
Carlisle and Honolulu Police Chief Boisse Correa met with the media yesterday to address the status of the HPD's chief investigator into the Harris campaign.
Carlisle and Correa, who discussed the matter last week, said Maj. Dan Hanagami will remain on the investigation full time and will operate out of the Prosecutor's Office.
Correa also said Hanagami's role as head of the HPD's Information Technology Division will be assumed by Capt. John Thompson.
Correa previously said he was considered replacing Hanagami on the campaign investigation with HPD detectives. Correa had expressed concern about whether HPD resources were being well used since most investigations are handled by detectives and not by division commanders like Hanagami, who also heads the Information Technology Division.
Correa said yesterday that the Harris investigation was never in jeopardy and that his proposal to reassign Hanagami was part of an internal review of HPD resources that began 18 months ago.
Carlisle said he hopes the new arrangement will speed up the investigation into the Harris campaign, which has brought criminal inquires into more than 20 local architecture and engineering companies so far. More than 30 donors linked to those firms have pleaded no contest or guilty to campaign spending-related charges.
Hanagami had no comment.
A veteran of several high-profile political corruption cases, Hanagami was lead investigator in the Ewa Villages relocation scandal and the HPD cellblock food scandal.
As a result of the Ewa Villages investigation, former city housing official Michael Kahapea was convicted of stealing $5.8 million, and in the cellblock scandal, two high-ranking HPD officers pleaded no contest to theft.
