Off the Hook

Honolulu's mayor beats a rap

When a Honolulu grand jury indicted Three-Term Mayor Frank Fasi for bribery last March, Special Prosecutor Grant Cooper thought he had an airtight case. The flamboyant Fasi, 57, a former junk dealer given to gestures like throwing a birthday party for himself at Aloha Stadium and inviting 20,000 guests, was charged with entering into a "corrupt understanding" with Local Developer Hal Hansen. Granted immunity from prosecution, Hansen talked a lot. He alleged that Fasi was to have received $500,000 disguised as campaign contributions from Hansen in exchange for the contract to build a $50 million city-sponsored condominium called Kukui Plaza; the mayor. Hansen said, had already received approximately $65,000 in goods and cash. Fasi insisted that the charge was part of a "political vendetta" against him by Hawaii Governor George Ariyoshi, who had narrowly defeated him in the 1974 Democratic primary and was hoping to avoid a challenge by Fasi for reelection.

Last month, however, Key Witness Hansen shattered the prosecution's case. Claiming that he had been coerced to testify and that he feared the evidence would be used against him in a federal case, Hansen refused to testify in court. Circuit Judge Toshimi Sodetani held Hansen in contempt, jailed him for two weeks, then brought him back to the witness stand last week. Again Hansen kept mum, and Prosecutor Cooper, a prominent Los Angeles defense attorney hired by Hawaii to handle the case, had no choice but to move for dismissal. Said Cooper to the court as Hansen was set free and Fasi taken off the hook: "Justice has been thwarted." So, too. may be Ariyoshi's hopes for a second term.

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