Sylvia Luke
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green is calling on Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke to resign after a state grand jury indicted her on Friday on bribery-related charges. It is part of a wide-ranging public corruption investigation that also led to indictments against former state Rep. Ryan Yamane and former state Transportation Director Ford Fuchigami.
Luke, who has been on an unpaid leave of absence since April, is charged with bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and falsifying campaign finance reports. Prosecutors say the charges are tied to campaign contributions connected to a state COVID-19 testing contract while Luke was serving in the Hawaii House of Representatives.
Luke has denied any wrongdoing. She says the campaign contributions in question were legal and insists she never traded official actions for political donations. She has said she plans to fight the charges in court.
Ryan Yamane
The case is part of a larger corruption investigation that has resulted in criminal charges against several current and former public officials and others with ties to state government. Among those indicted are Yamane and Fuchigami, both of whom prosecutors accuse of participating in the alleged scheme involving government contracts and political influence.
An indictment is a formal accusation, not a conviction. The investigation is one of the most significant public corruption cases Hawaii has seen in years.