Ex-Maui official, businessman plead guilty for Hawaii bribes

By AUDREY McAVOY
Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) — A former Maui County official and the Honolulu businessman who paid him $2 million in bribes in exchange for more than $19 million in wastewater contracts each pleaded guilty to one count of honest services wire fraud. They entered their pleas on Monday in one of the largest bribery cases ever prosecuted in Hawaii. Stewart Olani Stant was formerly a wastewater manager and the director of Maui’s Department of Environmental Management and Milton Choy is the the owner and manager of the wastewater company H2O Process Systems LLC. They’re scheduled to be sentenced in January. Two former Democratic state lawmakers in February also pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Choy.