Four current and former Hawaiʻi officials who were indicted last week in a major public corruption scandal pleaded not guilty on Thursday morning.
Appearing in court for the first time since an indictment last week were Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke; former state Rep. Ryan Yamane; Ford Fuchigami, airport administrator of the Department of Transportation and former member of the state Senate’s budget staff; and Leo Asuncion, a state planning official, former chair of the Public Utilities Commission and Luke’s former campaign treasurer.
The defendants all looked solemnly ahead as they stood beside their attorneys, who entered their pleas for them in a courtroom full of reporters, political observers and criminal defendants in other unrelated matters awaiting their arraignments. The bribery defendants did not speak. Judge Ronald Johnson accepted the not-guilty pleas and set a trial date for Sept. 28.
The indictment lays out an alleged conspiracy. Luke is charged with bribery for actions she took as a state representative to arrange state money for a Covid-19 testing effort run by Tobi Solidum, a businessman who promised to get her $35,000 or more in campaign donations…