The corruption probe ends with minor phrases

A 10 -year investigation carried out by a special federal prosecutor who went to public corruption in Hawaii ended Tuesday with the sentence of three former city officials who admitted a minor crime for illegally promoting a payment of $ 250,000 to former Honolulu Police Chief of Honolulu Louis Kealoha that evaded the scrutiny of the City Council.

Former Corporation Lawyer, Donna Yuk Lan Leong, 69, the former president of the Honolulu Police Commission, Max John Sword, 73, and the then reach of Kirk Caldwell, managing director Roy Keiji Amemiya Jr., 69 years While it was the objective of a federal corruption objective of a corruption and was followed by the Federal Corruption Agreement to be the objective of a federal corruption. With the Federal Research Office.

The trio assured the $ 250,000 in county money without the review and vote of approval of the City of Honolulu, “which required the laws of the city.”

Leong, Sword and Amemiya admitted that their decision to avoid the approval of the City Council “violated the procedural rights of due process of the city’s citizens, as guaranteed by the fifth and decimocly amendment of the Constitution of the United States by depriving them of the right to an audience and approval of the use of the city’s funds by its council of the elected city,” according to the guilty agreement presented on Tuesday.

None of the city officials will serve federal time in prison. They did not benefit from their crime, according to judicial documents.

When asked outside the Federal Court, what Caldwell knew about the payment agreement and his participation in his negotiation, the three former officers declined to comment and did not take questions after reading brief statements.

Sword and Leong will pay a fine of $ 100,000 and will serve a year of supervised release as part of their guilt agreement with the United States Department of Justice. Each agreed a sentence of time fulfilled, a year of supervised liberation and restitution.

A replacement information was presented on Monday, and federal prosecutors moved to receive the accusation of serious crime against the three former Honolulu officials dismissed with prejudice.

The position of minor crime against the three former city officials is part of a guilt agreement Federal prosecutors described in a February 25 memorandum that did not assure the time in the Federal Prison.

Amemiya held a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors, a rare agreement that the group’s lawyers commented that they had never seen in a federal court in Hawaii.

The position against Amemiya will be amended to a minor crime, and provided Amemiya to remain due to the conditions of the agreement, the position against him will be dismissed whenever he is not convicted of a crime.

The fulfillment of Amemiya will depend on the certification by the government office, the restitution, 200 hours of community service and a prohibition of occupying a public office.

Amemiya has begun to volunteer to help maintain an urban garden led by the University of Hawaii.

You have to pay a fine of $ 50,000 and meet two years of federal supervised release.

The trio was sentenced by the high American district judge Leslie E. Kobayashi.

“You unilaterally decided the result that you and your conspirators wanted, which was that Louie Kealoha was the use of the city and perhaps with the mentality that the end justifies the media. In doing so, he remained above the law and acted with arrogance and total contempt for law and the separation of power between the executive branch and the legislative branch, “Kobayashi said, noting that Leong has no history of crime, violent behavior, abuse of substances or mental illness and is a resident of the whole life of Hawa (a) A wrong illegal attempt to save the city from damage due to the continuous employment of Louie Kealoha, did not personally benefit from his irregularity. “

Leong, speaking with Kobayashi after they asked him to explain in his own words what he did wrong, he said as an advisor to the Honolulu Corporation: “I intentionally agreed not to present the city agreement to pay the former police chief Kealoha $ 250,000 to the City Council for approval. According to this agreement, the city funds were used to make this payment without first receiving the approval of the City Council ”.

“I hope your prayer (from Leong) prevents others from following a similar path in the future,” Kobayashi said.

Kobayashi admonished the sword with the same feelings that Leong heard.

She asked Sword how she begged the crime, and he replied: “guilty, your honor.”

Sword’s role as president of the Honolulu Police Commission was “critical to obtain the approval of the commission for this agreement,” said Kobayashi, who said Sword held many positions that required community service in “name of Hawaii citizens.”

The sword, with family and friends in the court gallery, delivered a repentant statement through tears and broken breaths.

“Please forgive me for reading this. I have some points that I am going to do, and I have not been in this position before, so this is the first time, “said Sword, who called his decade of unpaid service to the commission as an” honor and a privilege. “

The sword “dedicated the majority” of his adult life to helping the community, much of it through unpaid voluntary work.

“His honor, I mention this service so as not to justify what happened in this case, but so that I can understand that my intentions and those of my companions who voted for the separation agreement (with Kealoha) were well intentional and destined to obtain the Honolulu Police Department and the citizens of Honolulu outside the dark cloud of the former boss,” Sword said. “I understand and accept that all the fair reasons in the world do not serve as a defense for inappropriate behavior. To that end, I also understand that we need to create more transparency in the government. In retrospect, my mistake, in which I assumed all responsibility, was not that the Police Commission presented the separation agreement to the City Council. “

Kobayashi thanked Sword for his remorse, pointing out: “That has been something missing in this case.”

“There are checks and balances for a reason, and it is very unfortunate to continue the way he did and certainly paid a high price for it,” he told Sword. “I hope you go very well in the supervised launch and you can leave this behind and continue working on behalf of the community.”

The United States assistant prosecutor Michael Wheat, the special prosecutor who manages the case of the United States Prosecutor’s Office for the Southern District of California, retired on December 31.

Federal prosecutors have not said why they decided to make a statement of accusation for serious crime to a minor crime.

The conclusion of the criminal case against Leong, Sword and Amemiya is “the last in a series of public corruption processes in a decade in Hawaii” conducted by the United States prosecutor’s office for the Southern District of California, which processed these cases after the Hawaii district was challenged, according to a press release.

The San Diego Federal Prosecutors team “accused and convicted of more than a dozen people, most of whom were public officials or prominence people” in Honolulu, including Kealohas police, Honolulu and Anesthesiologist Rudy PuanaKatherine Kealoha’s brother.

Federal investigation also tried to process the former fiscal lawyer of Honolulu Keith Kaneshiro, businessman Dennis Mitsunaga and Mitsunaga employees, Terri Anni, Aaron Shunichi Fujii, Chad Michael McDonald and Sheri Jean Tanaka.

Federal prosecutors tried to demonstrate that Kaneshiro prosecuted a former Mitsunaga employee in exchange for campaign contributions.

A jury found All of them not guilty.

After his acquittal, Kaneshir I would not play the ball With the Wheat team in the Kealoha case.

Kaneshiro said he took eight years before a jury absorbed them in less than 48 hours.

“After a battle of a decade against public corruption in Hawaii, we have successfully closed numerous cases. This achievement is a testimony of the unwavering dedication of our partners of application of the law, the prosecutors, our legal support staff and the community, ”said Andrew R. Haden, a lawyer as a US prosecutor for the southern district of California. “Together, we have shown that no one is above the law. With luck, our efforts have also restored some faith in the application of the law and the local government for the Hawaiian community. But that these cases are also a reminder, the fight against corruption should never end. The Department of Justice has a proud history and is ready to fight for the principles of justice and equity for all. ”

Speaking outside the Court after the sentence, Amemiya thanked her family, friends and lawyers for her “unwavering support and belief in me throughout this attempt.”

“While my lawyers and I firmly believe that going to trial would have resulted in a non -guilty verdict, having the opportunity to dismiss all charges as if they were never too much in my decision to accept the government’s proposal,” said Amemiya. “I accepted the work as managing director of the city because I sincerely wanted to make a difference in the lives of our residents. We had a strong city team that faced some monumental challenges. I am extremely proud of what we achieved together. “