Kealoha Scandal Hasn't Led To Major Reforms At Prosecutor's Office, Audit Finds

With former Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha now behind bars, you might think the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office has undergone major reforms to ensure an employee could never again use city resources for a criminal conspiracy.

But you’d be wrong, according to a city audit released on Saturday.

“Despite the revelations of Katherine Kealoha’s misconduct and abuse of her position in the prosecuting attorney’s office, we found that the department has not made any substantive changes to its policies or procedures,” the audit states.

When the scandal was playing out, Prosecuting Attorney office policies and procedures failed to identify Kealoha’s criminal conduct, which included a conspiracy to frame her uncle for stealing her mailbox, her effort to protect her brother from a drug investigation and her alleged role in fixing a speeding ticket.

Supervisors were not providing enough oversight, the audit said, and the department’s reliance on self disclosure of conflicts of interest was ineffective, vague and did not promote transparency and accountability.

Read more: https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/12/kealoha-scandal-hasnt-led-to-major-reforms-at-prosecutors-office-audit-finds/