Former OHA trustee Rowena Akana fined more than $23,000

The attorney for former Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Rowena Akana said Wednesday his client will appeal a state Ethics Commission complaint that imposes a fine of more than $23,000 for 47 ethics violations.

“We’re very disappointed in the commission’s findings,” said Stephen Tannenbaum, who defended Akana during a contested case hearing in October.

In an 85-page complaint posted on its website Wednesday, the commission also referred a complaint to the state Attorney General for possible recovery of prohibited gifts of legal fees of more than $21,500.

The gifts came from Campbell Estate heiress Abigail Kawananakoa, who financed Akana’s 2013 lawsuit accusing OHA trustees of violating the state’s Sunshine Law during the agency’s $21 million acquisition of the former Gentry Pacific Design Center, now the location of OHA’s headquarters.

Akana, who lost re-election to the board in November, had faced a potential $50,000 fine for 51 infractions of the state’s Gifts Law, Gifts Reporting Law and Fair Treatment Law.

The charges ranged from accepting $72,000 in legal fees to inappropriately using her $22,200-a-year trustee allowance for an array of food purchases and to buy home cable television services and a Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club membership.

A defiant Akana fought the allegations in court and during a weeklong contested case hearing in October — only the third such proceeding in more than 30 years.

In court, Akana accused the Ethics Commission of reaching beyond its authority, arguing that OHA trust funds are not state funds and therefore fall outside the commission’s purview. The case was withdrawn after a judge indicated the case was premature without any findings.

Tannenbaum said the appeal will not only question the commission’s findings, facts and conclusions but challenge the jurisdiction issue.

In its complaint, the commission found no violation on four counts, including two small donations to the Hawaiian Humane Society. Also lacking evidence was the purchase of an Apple iTunes gift card and a charge for food during a trip to New York.

However, the panel found credible evidence to back up the rest of the violations. The complaint calls her conduct “egregious” and “troubling.”

“Akana committed dozens of violations of the State Ethics Code by accepting illegal gifts valued at over $21,000; failing to timely report gifts valued at over $50,000; and using Trustee Annual Allowance funds for her own personal benefit or for political contributions,” the document said.

During the contested- case hearing, former OHA employees testified about the agency’s policies and their dealings with Akana.

According to the complaint, the evidence shows that Akana threatened and berated OHA fiscal employees who questioned or disallowed her annual allowance expenditures. “Current and former OHA staff members testified that they and their colleagues feared personal attacks or possible retaliation when questioning Akana about her expenditures.”

As for the legal fees, Akana not only failed to report the gifts for more than a year but accepted them at a time when Kawananakoa was suing OHA, which created the appearance it was intended to influence Akana in the performance of her official duties.

Kawananakoa’s suit sought to invalidate an employment contract between OHA and its CEO, Kamana‘opono Crabbe, a move that Akana supported.

According to the complaint, Akana also failed to seek advice from then-OHA Corporate Counsel Ernest Kimoto as to whether she could accept a gift of legal fees from an OHA beneficiary.

Akana, the longest- serving trustee at 28 years, earlier described the ethics probe as a witch hunt. She had become an election- year target of foes within OHA, she said, and the timing of the hearing was designed to keep her from campaigning.

“My detractors at OHA have been fighting my efforts to clean up our agency for years,” she wrote on her website last year. “Now they have found an agency willing to help them create distrust and controversy against me in an election year.”

Akana captured 101,000 votes in the November but fell nearly 5,000 short of winning back her seat.

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