Two former state airport officials and two private contractors were convicted yesterday of participating in a scam involving phony bids, kickbacks and inflated contracts for repair jobs at Honolulu International Airport.

Dennis Hirokawa, former airport maintenance superintendent; Richard Okada, former administrator of the airport visitor information program; and private contractors Michael Furukawa and Wesley Uemura showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were announced in the federal courtroom.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong estimated that the two contractors received about $4.8 million for hundreds of jobs that defrauded taxpayers of about $2.5 million from 1997 to mid-2002. In exchange, Hirokawa and Okada received at least $129,000 in kickbacks, Tong said.

The four defendants "caused significant economic damage to the state taxpayers and more importantly, it caused a loss of faith in the integrity of state government," Tong said. "We're very pleased that the jury's verdict will bring some justice to the situation."

Lawrence Goya, senior deputy attorney general who also handled the prosecution, said the verdict sends the message that "public corruption within state government will not be tolerated and will be dealt with sternly when found."

All four defendants were convicted on a conspiracy charge of participating in the fraudulent scheme. In addition, three of them also were convicted on related mail-fraud counts — 18 for Furukawa, 16 for Hirokawa and 14 for Uemura. The conspiracy and mail-fraud convictions each carry up to five years in prison.

Tong said the federal sentencing guidelines will likely recommend prison terms, and he will also recommend that the four spend time behind bars.

U. S. District Judge David Ezra scheduled sentencing for Jan. 15. He permitted each of the men to remain free on bond pending the hearing.

The four men all declined to comment.

"We're disappointed with the verdict," said Dana Ishibashi, Okada's lawyer. "We will be exploring our options in regards to an appeal."

The trial provided a rare insider's view of what prosecutors called a "pay for play" scam created by crooked state officials who received kickbacks that they claimed would be used for the benefit of unnamed politicians.

It involved contractors submitting inflated bids that were awarded to them because they also turned in fake bids on behalf of other contractors asking for higher amounts, prosecutors said.

In exchange, the contractors would give the state officials — Hirokawa and Okada — cash and other benefits, according to the prosecutors.

During the trial, Tong said that in one contract, the state paid $9,670 to repair cracks in a floor that cost only $250 to fix.

The government's case relied on a former state airport official and five other contractors who pleaded guilty to theft in state courts and agreed to testify for the federal prosecution.

Arthur K. Inada, one of the five, told the jury he gave $129,000 in payments ranging from $20 pastry purchases at Dee Lite Bakery to two $20,000 cash payments that Okada claimed were needed for "campaign donations."

No politician's name surfaced during the trial.

Okada and Hirokawa took the witness stand and denied any criminal wrongdoing, while the defense lawyers argued to the jury that the government relied on self-serving witnesses who couldn't be believed and unreliable analysis of the value of the work on the repairs.

They maintained that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The jury, however, after four weeks of trial, needed only about seven hours Thursday and yesterday to find the defendants guilty on all charges.

Tong said the estimate of more than $2.5 million in losses to the taxpayers was based on an analysis by a prosecution expert who reviewed 171 of the hundreds of jobs awarded to the two defendant contractors. The contracts were all for less than $25,000 and most of them were in the $10,000 range, Tong said.

The expert concluded that the contractors were paid $1.4 million for work that actually cost about $380,000.

The prosecutor said the airport now has new management and personnel. "Hopefully, that will address the problem," Tong said.

He also said he hopes the convictions "will deter any public employee from considering any similar conduct."

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.