New Details Emerge on Federal Probe Against Former City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro |
|
|
Last week, reporter Lynn Kawano published new details on the public corruption investigation against former City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro. |
|
|
In an exclusive interview with former deputy prosecutor Jacob Delaplane, two issues were highlighted:
1) “Whether Mr. Kaneshiro committed a federal crime when his office prosecuted and investigated the Laurel Mau case, and
2) Whether any of the witnesses that provided supporting testimony, whether they lied in that testimony." |
|
|
Hawaii campaign spending data shows that from 2012 to 2016, representatives from the company donated nearly $40,000 to Kaneshiro’s campaign, which made up about 10 percent of his total contributions during that time. |
|
|
Then in 2014, after employee Laurel Mau's failed attempt to sue Mitsunaga & Associates for sex and age discrimination, the City Prosecutor's office filed charges via information charging against Mau for theft almost solely based upon the company's own in-house investigation.
HPD declined to pursue the case, and no independent, outside investigatory body appeared to have been consulted in the charging of Mau. |
|
|
Attorneys Howard Luke and Richard Sing, who represented Mau in the matter, flagged many of the peculiarities in the charging documents and the court dismiss the case.
|
|
|
“Ordinarily, law enforcement agencies, such as (the Honolulu Police Department) could have and should have conducted the investigation, but that was not done in this case.
In fact, no law enforcement agencies, such as HPD or the Department of the Attorney General or any other state or federal law enforcement, was involved," agreed Judge Karen Nakasone as she expressed her concerns over the charging methods chosen by Kaneshiro's office. |
|
|
Attorney Megan Kau said federal authorities are investigating whether Kaneshiro “used his position to prosecute someone that was the enemy of his friends.” |
|
|
|
|
