An Oahu grand jury has indicted Hawaii's sitting lieutenant governor on bribery and campaign finance charges, the highest-ranking state official ever charged with corruption in Hawaii history.
Sylvia Luke, a Democrat who has served as lieutenant governor since 2022, was indicted Friday on a 12-count case alongside four co-defendants in a scheme prosecutors say ran for more than two years and centered on the state's COVID-19 community testing program. The charges against Luke include criminal conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, and falsifying campaign finance reports, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now.
Prosecutors allege that while she chaired the state House Finance Committee, Luke accepted 10,000 dollars in campaign contributions from businessman and lobbyist Tobi Solidum and agreed to take as much as 70,000 dollars total, in exchange for using her position to steer continued state funding to the Department of Health for COVID-19 testing. Solidum had built a lucrative financial stake in that testing contract and, according to the indictment, spent more than two years funneling cash and checks to Luke and two other officials to keep the money flowing.
Also indicted were Ford Fuchigami, deputy director of the state Department of Transportation, former state Rep. Ryan Yamane, who resigned as director of the Department of Human Services in May after being questioned in the probe, and Leo Asuncion Jr., the former chair of the state Public Utilities Commission. Solidum, the lobbyist accused of paying the bribes, has fled to the Philippines, and a judge issued a no-bail warrant for his arrest, Hawaii News Now reported.
Deputy Attorney General David Van Acker told the court that if prosecutors had to name the most culpable person in the scheme, it would be Yamane, who is accused of taking cash and checks from Solidum on multiple occasions between 2020 and 2022 while personally introducing and shepherding the appropriation bill that funded the testing contract through the Legislature. Bail was set at 80,000 dollars each for Luke, Fuchigami and Asuncion.
A Democrat-run testing program built on payoffs
Hawaii spent the pandemic under one-party Democratic control, from the governor's office to every rung of the Legislature, and the state's COVID-19 testing apparatus was administered entirely inside that system. The indictment describes not a single lapse in judgment but a running arrangement, contributions and appropriations moving in tandem for two years while the public was told the money was going to keep residents safe.
Luke has been on unpaid leave since April, when her attorney first confirmed she was the target of the state attorney general's investigation. Gov. Josh Green, also a Democrat, said Friday that Luke needs to consider resigning so Hawaii can move forward, a call he made within hours of the indictment becoming public. Luke has not entered a plea, and her attorney has not issued a detailed public response to the specific charges; PRN sought comment from her office.
The case now moves to arraignment, where all four defendants who remain in the country are expected to enter pleas in the coming weeks. Prosecutors have signaled the investigation is not closed, and it remains unclear whether additional officials tied to the testing contract could face charges. What happens to Luke's office, whether she resigns or Green moves to force the issue, will determine how long Hawaii's government has to answer for a program that was supposed to protect the public and instead became, prosecutors allege, a vehicle for cash.
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