Ex-official accused
of money laundering

City prosecutors filed a money-laundering charge against the former chairman of the state housing department as part of their investigation into illegal political donations to Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign.

In a Dec. 13 complaint in state Circuit Court, prosecutors also alleged that Wesley Segawa made a political donation to the Harris campaign under a false name.

The money-laundering charge is a felony punishable by up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine. The false-name contribution charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of $2,000.

Segawa, who is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 27, is president of Hilo-based engineering firm of Wesley Segawa & Associates Inc. He and his attorney Darwin Ching could not be reached for comment.

Segawa is former chairman of the state Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawaii, which oversees the state's public housing program.

He resigned from the state post in 2002 after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development criticized the state agency's former director Sharyn Miyashiro for awarding an $800,000 nonbid contract to a company headed by her ex-husband Dennis Mitsunaga.

Mitsunaga, who is the target of investigations by the prosecutor's office and the state Campaign Spending Commission, is a relative of Segawa's.

In July 2003 the Campaign Spending Commission fined Segawa $53,000 for funneling more than $80,000 to several prominent local Democrats.

The contributions included $26,000 to Harris and more than $21,000 to former Gov. Ben Cayetano, the commission said. Commission investigators also linked Segawa's firm to more than $14,000 to ex-Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and $12,000 to former Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana.

Under state law, an individual or business can give no more than $4,000 to a mayoral candidate during a four-year election cycle. For races for governor and lieutenant governor, the limit is $6,000. Donors also are barred from making donations under a false name.