The board of American Savings Bank's parent company has appointed an independent counsel to investigate the alleged theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a 91-year-old bank customer by a bank employee, according to court papers filed in a related civil case.

The three-member audit committee of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. has hired San Francisco lawyer Walter Brown, a partner in the San Francisco office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP who specializes in white-collar criminal defense cases.

The bank's lawyers also are asking the Office of the U.S. Attorney to postpone a grand jury investigation into the case for 90 days to 120 days to give Brown time to research the matter.

American Savings said HEI's audit committee asked Brown's firm to conduct an investigation "some time ago" given the seriousness of the allegations raised in separate Aug. 2 lawsuits by 91-year-old Ada Lim and the bank's former security director, Bert Corniel.

Lim and Corniel alleged that a bank employee defrauded more than $600,000 from Lim and that the bank tried to cover up the alleged theft. Lim settled her suit last month for undisclosed terms, but Corniel's suit is pending.

"In recent years, it has become customary as a part of their duties for audit committees to conduct independent reviews when serious allegations are made against their companies," said American Savings spokeswoman Dawn Dunbar.

"Sound corporate governance principles and audit committee oversight obligations typically compel audit committees to commission these types of reviews, frequently with the assistance of outside counsel. To that end, some time ago the ASB audit committee asked its outside counsel, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, to review questions arising out of the allegations made against the bank in the Corniel lawsuit and the recently settled Ada Lim lawsuit."

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Shipley had no comment.

Brown's hiring was disclosed in a legal filing last week by Corniel's attorney, John Perkin.

Established in 1925, American Savings is the state's third-largest financial institution with about $6.7 billion in assets.

Brown, who did not return a call to his office on Friday, represented former McKesson Corp. Chief Financial Officer Richard Hawkins, who was acquitted last year on federal charges that he inflated revenues for the San Francisco-based pharmaceutical distributor.

Brown also worked as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles between 1989 and 1994.

Brown's firm previously served as special counsel to former Hawaiian Airlines trustee Joshua Gotbaum. According to bankruptcy court records, the firm, Orrick Herrington, billed Hawaiian Airlines nearly $1.3 million for work done in 2004 and 2005.

Brown is the latest high-profile attorney retained by American Savings and HEI.

Last month, the bank hired Washington, D.C., attorney Michael Bromwich in preparation for the grand jury investigation.

Bromwich, a former inspector general for the Justice Department, authored the 1997 report that criticized the FBI's crime lab for its handling of evidence in the Oklahoma bombing case and the first World Trade Center terrorist attack.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.