HPD takes over
city investigation

Prosecutors look into an internal
inquiry about city contracts

The city has handed over an internal investigation into a city job training agency that is the target of a criminal investigation by the city Prosecutor's Office and Honolulu police.

City spokesman Bill Brennan said the Department of Corporation Counsel recently turned over the records in response to an administrative subpoena seeking city inquiries into the Oahu Workforce Investment Board.

Prosecutors and Honolulu police are investigating how the board and its executive director, Christine McColgan, awarded city contracts. They also are looking into travel by board staffers.

McColgan did not return a phone call. The company has denied any wrongdoing.

The Oahu Workforce Investment Board, which is partly funded by federal money, provides job placement and job training for local employers and job hunters.

The criminal investigation, which was led by HPD Maj. Dan Hanagami, stems from the prosecutor's probe into illegal contributions to the campaign of former Mayor Jeremy Harris and the awarding of city contracts.

The agency is attached to the Department of Community Services, whose former director, Michael Amii, pleaded no contest to a third-degree theft charge in 2003 for ordering a city staffer to work on the Harris campaign.

Harris administration officials said the police investigation had nothing to do with campaign funds, and have said police were called after the city had conducted its own investigation.