A bid-rigging conspiracy at Honolulu International Airport netted one contractor a 3 1/2-year prison sentence and $4.5 million penalty yesterday and will likely lead to stiffer punishment for three others.

The case is "a tremendous black eye for the state of Hawai'i and the government contracting process," said U.S. District Judge David Ezra.

Ezra sentenced Wesley Uemura, 62, to 3 1/2 years in prison, while describing Uemura as the "least culpable" man charged in the case. Three others will be sentenced today.

The conspiracy involved submission of phony and inflated bids for "small" airport repair jobs worth less than $25,000. Airport officials were given leeway in awarding these "smaller" jobs. The contractors then paid kickbacks in the form of cash, meals, groceries and other gratuities to the state officials. The contractors were told that some of the cash payments were needed for political donations to unnamed Island political figures.

Scheduled for sentencing today are former airport officials Dennis Hirokawa and Richard Okada and contractor Michael Furukawa, who originally brought Uemura into the bid-rigging conspiracy in 1991, Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong said in court yesterday.

"The rule of the day was corruption and kickbacks and illegal gratuities, including political contributions," Ezra said.

"These are most serious crimes," he declared, adding that he would "have more to say" on that subject when the others are sentenced today.

He indicated that he believes one or more of the remaining defendants perjured themselves during trial testimony.

Prosecutors said the defendants netted almost $4 million in excessive billings.

MAIL-FRAUD COUNTS

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.

The conspiracy ran from 1991-2002, but the defendants were only charged with mail fraud and conspiracy offenses committed from 1995 to 2002.

News of the scheme appeared first in The Advertiser in mid-2002, Ezra noted.

"This corruption was detailed quite eloquently in a series of news articles," he said.

Six other people were convicted in related state criminal cases and have been ordered to repay a total of $452,500.

Uemura did not testify in the trial, a fact that Ezra said he would not and could not hold against him.

"I certainly take it into consideration when a defendant takes the stand and perjures himself," the judge said. "Mr. Uemura didn't."

Uemura's attorney, Clifford Hunt, asked Ezra for a substantial reduction in prison time, saying his client had admitted his wrongdoing and expressed shame and remorse.

He said Uemura has serious health problems and has been a principal source of support for family members since he was a young man.

UEMURA BALKS

Uemura was accompanied to court by family members including his 94-year-old mother; his son, who is a Honolulu police officer; and his brother, retired HPD assistant chief Eugene Uemura.

When Ezra told Uemura that to qualify for the lowest possible sentence he would have to answer questions from Tong, the prosecutor, about his role in the scheme, Uemura balked.

"Mr. Uemura's concerned that the questions would require Mr. Uemura to implicate his friends, the co-defendants," Hunt said.

Uemura later told Ezra, "I have no one to blame but myself," adding that his conduct had brought him "stress and shame."

Tong told Ezra that Uemura was "not the most culpable" of the conspirators but he was an active participant in a "very sophisticated corruption that lasted for a long period of time."

The conspirators received $3.8 million in excessive billings for airport work and investigating the case cost the government another $690,000, Tong said.

"I can't imagine any conduct that would cause a greater loss of faith in the process of government," Tong said.

Contractors who have admitted to taking part in the conspiracy in state court proceedings have received no jail time, the prosecutor noted. "So far the message has been all you get is a time-out," he said.

KICKBACKS TOLD

One of those defendants, Arthur K. Inada, was called to testify in the federal trial. He told the court that he gave $129,000 in kickbacks to former airport officials Hirokawa and Okada in return for their help in landing airport work.

Inada, head of Blueprint Builders Inc., said the payments were made from mid-1998 to mid-2000 and included everything from occasional $20 pastry purchases at a local bakery to two $20,000 cash gifts that Okada said were needed for "campaign donations" to unidentified politicians.

Okada was the head of the airport visitor information program and Hirokawa was maintenance supervisor.

Inada's criminal case in state court is still pending.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.