Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 4, 1 April 1997 — Attorney General's investigation clears Carpenter and Wong [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Attorney General's investigation clears Carpenter and Wong

In 1994, Kenneth M. S. Wong was hired by OHA Administrator Dante Carpenter as a cash manager for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Wong was hired effective July 1, 1994 under OHA Consultant Contract No. 821. Wong would be paid $100 an hour for services performed, with a dollar limit of $31,500 and the contract would run until Dpcember 31 . 1994.

During the period of Wong's management of the cash fimds, $160,000 in interest was earned, and it was anticipated that OHA would receive over $1 million in interest within a year by following his investment gyQuestions were raised about his 1) hiring, and 2) whether he violated any state security laws in purchasing the short-term time deposits instruments he obtained on behalf of OHA. The Attorney General's investigation revealed: 1) that there was no violation of the state procurement code by Administrator Dante Carpenter and Deputy Administrator Sesnita Moepono in hiring Wong under OHA Consultant Contract 821. Therefore, OHA Administrator Carpenter had complied with all existing laws and procedures in hiring Wong. The Attorney General's office has considered the investigation closed. I am very happy that the in-depth investigation cleared our personnel and Wong of any "wrong doing." It was unfortunate that the complaint was registered, however, the investigation cleared Carpenter, Moepono and Wong and needed to be done.

Trustee, Maui