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"CAUGHT - OHA AUDIT REPORT SECRETS REVEALED"

Donʻt Miss This.

An Easy To Understand OHA Forensic Audit Overview Youʻll Want To See.

A Quick Read That Reveals The Worst Financial Dirt On OHA.

Watch This For A Quick Run-Down & Where You Can See It For Yourself.

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"WHY YOU SHOULD MAHALO OHA TRUSTEE KELI`I AKINA"

How Would You Like To Do Something Good & Get Criticized For It?

Thatʻs What Happened To OHA Trustee Keli`i Akina.

Who Would Criticize Him & Why For Doing Something Good?

Watch This For The Answer & What He Did That Benefits All Hawaiians.

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AUDITORS FIND A MESS AT OHA

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Hawai`i News Now - December 9, 2019

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs paid a mainland firm to take a hard look at questionable contracts, grants and other financial transactions. 

As expected, the firm ― CLA (CliffordLarsenAllen) ― found such lax management that potential fraud, waste and abuse was going unnoticed at the agency. 

The firm used its experience to judge which areas of spending had the most risk for problems and asked OHA to provide documentation on 185 transactions from 2012 and 2016. 

In many cases, the documentation was not adequate to establish that work OHA or its non-profit affiliates had paid for was actually produced. 

The review reinforced the prior findings of government auditors, which described lax controls on financial transactions ― many of which were arranged by former CEO Kaamanao Crabbe ― didn’t meet basic standards of procurement. 

Those transactions had few or no checks for insider dealing, competitive bidding or following up on how money was spent. 

Board of Trustees Chair Colette Machado said the board has already implemented recommendations, including taking away the CEO’s authority to spend without board review and new controls on trustee allowances. 

She said the board hired a new CEO, Sylvia Hussey, who helped reform management of the Kamehameha Schools. 

Machado said the CLA report and the prior audits are a road map for OHA’s reform. 

“Its been an opportunity to work with our new CEO she is a certified public accountant she has tremendous background in how to manage these things,” Machado said. Hussey has been given until January to propose reforms to the board. 

While the agency leadership prefers to look forward, Trustee Kelii Akina, said the report’s findings are alarming enough that more should be done to examine what happened in the past. 

“It would be a mistake to simply whitewash this audit and say there are no problems. clearly there are issues that have to be dealt with there are people who shold be held accountable,” Akina said. “I think its important to take a deeper look and see if there are problems throughout the entire organization.” 

Akina and his staff did their own analysis of the CLA findings, which total around 1,000 pages. 

“Between the years of 2012 and 2016, the audit found that 85% of all the transactions sampled had some kind of problem and 17% had indications of waste fraud and abuse. That’s egregious,” Akina said.

GUILTY! - OHA FORENSIC AUDIT RESULTS - FRAUD, WASTE & ABUSE

Honolulu Star-Advertiser - December 9, 2019

An independent financial review of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has identified transactions worth $7.8 million as potentially fraudulent, wasteful and abusive.

OHA’s long-awaited independent audit, covering a period from 2012 to 2016, documented signs of shoddy record keeping, inadequate oversight, unlawful procedures, missing documents, conflicts of interest and, in some cases, contractors who failed to perform the work they were hired to do.

Of the 185 contracts and disbursements reviewed by the national accounting firm of CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), 85% suggested conflicts with statutory requirements or internal policies, and 17% were flagged for potential fraud, waste and abuse.

Trustee Kelii Akina, who pushed for the $500,000 audit following his 2016 election to the board, called the findings troubling.

“The results, in some instances, are more serious than I imagined,” Akina said.

In a written statement, OHA Chairwoman Colette Machado and Kauai trustee Dan Ahuna had a slightly more upbeat take on the report of over 1,000 pages.

“The recommendations of this report confirm that OHA is moving in the right direction,” they said, in part because the board is already working toward greater transparency with a number of the recommendations already being implemented.

However, they did acknowledge that “more needs to be done to regain the trust of our beneficiaries and the general public.”

The trustees voted Wednesday to have the agency’s administration review and analyze the report and prepare a plan for implementation by Jan. 22.

But Akina, who led the OHA committee that helped set up the parameters of the financial review, urged his fellow board members to dive deeper into the findings and hold accountable those responsible for any fraud, abuse and waste.

The audit contract, awarded more than two years ago, called for an examination of both OHA and its limited-liability companies with an eye toward identifying areas in the agency’s procurement process at risk of fraud, waste and abuse.

The firm flagged 32 transactions with potential for fraud, waste and abuse, including:

A $99,600 contract in 2013 to a nonprofit for 36 youth scholarships. OHA had no documentation to show the scholarships were actually given to the students, and the nonprofit’s tax returns indicate only half of the scholarships were awarded.

A $150,000 disbursement to ABW Holdings LLC to pay for a lease guaranty OHA signed on behalf of its now-defunct subsidiary Kauhale LLC when it defaulted on its commercial lease at Waikiki Beachwalk. The transaction appears to have been split in two payments in a move to avoid scrutiny by the chief financial officer and legal counsel.

A $185,000 contract in 2012 to Absolute Plus Advisors, now out of business, for financial advisory services. The contract amendment was executed five months after the contract date, and no documents were available showing the firm did the work for which it was hired.

The largest contract flagged as questionable was a $2.6 million grant to the nonprofit Akamai Foundation, which was the fiscal sponsor for the election of delegates to the 2015 Na`i Aupuni Hawaiian constitutional convention.

The problem is that the election was canceled at the last minute, and auditors found few if any receipts, invoices or billings to demonstrate what costs were incurred. OHA was dinged for potential lack of oversight, abuse of the disbursement process and waste of funds, among other things.

Contacted Friday, Akamai Foundation Chairman Louis Perez said all the funds were spent in accordance with the contract and that there remains documentation that describes every expenditure in detail.

Perez said he might understand auditors not finding a lot of receipts because, with the election under attack in the courts, officials were cautious about appearances, and there was a concerted effort to maintain neutrality and distance between the governance campaign and OHA.

According to its contract, CLA was not tasked with determining whether any transactions were in fact fraudulent, abusive and wasteful. Instead, it was only to point out whether they might be.

In addition, the firm didn’t just pick out a random sampling of contracts and disbursements, but used its professional judgment to select transactions that appeared more likely to have indicators of fraud, waste or abuse, officials said.

The report concludes with 109 recommendations to help OHA tighten up its financial procedures and guard against abuse. Among the recommendations: more employee training, starting a special audit committee and establishing a hotline for reporting fraud and abuse.

In his analysis of the report, Akina said the document acts as a road map of issues to resolve and offers a valuable list of transactions that warrant further investigation.

Former veteran OHA trustee Rowena Akana said she was not surprised by the amount of fraud and abuse suggested in the report.

“We knew what was going on,” she said, adding that she tried to bring additional problem areas to the board leadership’s attention but that her concerns were often ignored.

Akana urged the board to investigate the red-flagged cases in the report and consider having the state Attorney General’s Office resume as lead counsel for the agency.

Machado and Ahuna noted that since the report looked at a five-year period that began seven years ago, several grant and procurement reforms are not reflected in the observations.

What’s more, employees with knowledge about certain contracts or disbursements are no longer with OHA and were unable to provide key information, they said.

One employee no longer with OHA is Kamana`opono Crabbe, who led OHA as CEO during the entire range of the report.

Crabbe, who left his job at the end of June and became CEO of the Kohala Institute at Iole on the Big Island on Oct. 28, could not be reached for comment Friday.

New CEO Sylvia Hussey will head OHA’s analysis of the report and come up with a plan to implement reforms. The former Kamehameha Schools administrator and certified public accountant was hired by OHA as COO last year and took over as permanent CEO on Dec. 1.

In their statement, Ma­chado and Ahuna said OHA has “an unwavering commitment to continued improvement,” as illustrated, in part, by the fact that the board took the “very unusual step” of hiring a national accounting firm to examine a sample of contracts and disbursements.

“We were not required to do this,” they said. “Despite undergoing regular state audits and receiving clean annual independent financial audits for eight consecutive years, our Board chose to do this on its own, something few other state or private entities would do.”

The board leaders added, “We are in a critical period of transition intended to set the agency on a firm course for the future, with a new CEO, a new 15-year Strategic Plan, and the implementation of these financial management upgrades. We look forward to sharing our progress with our community and general public soon.”

AT LONG LAST - CONTRACT SIGNED FOR OHA FISCAL AUDIT

Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee-at-Large Keli`i Akina went on record yesterday commending his fellow trustees for finally executing a $500,000 contract to independently audit OHA and its subsidiary LLCs for fraud, waste and abuse. 

Trustee Akina has been on record as critical of the fact that a year and a half has passed since the OHA Board of Trustees first committed to the independent audit.

“Finally, we can say that the OHA Board will deliver on its promise to ensure the independent audit for fraud, waste and abuse demanded by beneficiaries and the public,” stated Trustee Akina. “Since the time this audit was first approved by the Board in February 2017, there has been heightened concern by the State Auditor over OHA’s finances and media reports of other investigations into OHA. At last, Hawaiian beneficiaries and the public will get the accounting they deserve.”

Trustee Akina continued, “I am especially grateful to Trustee Carmen Hulu Lindsey, Chair of the Committee on Resource Management, for pushing through the finalization of the contract for this audit.”

Trustee Akina helped craft the scope of the audit while serving as chair of the Audit Advisory Committee, and successfully lobbied the Board of Trustees to include within the audit not only OHA, but its subsidiary LLCs.

Auditing firm CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (CLA) has begun work and will present its findings to the Board in April 2019. CLA is the eighth largest CPA and consulting firm in the United States, according to Accounting Today’s 2018 Top 100 rankings.

CLA is tasked with combing through five years’ worth of OHA and LLC contracts.

WILL YOU VOTE FOR BILL AILA SO HE CAN STOP THE AUDIT & HELP PROTECT OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS CEO KAMANA`O CRABBEʻS JOB?

NO REFORM AT THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS WITHOUT THIS

VOTE FOR TRUTH & TRANSPARENCY AT THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS AUG. 11TH

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"WHO WANTS TO KILL OHAʻS FORENSIC AUDIT?"

Why Havenʻt You Heard Lately About OHAʻs Forensic Audit?



After Voting For It Some OHA Trustees Have Been Secretly Trying To Kill It Off.

Is There Someone Who Could Actually Help The Audit Move Forward?

Watch This To See Who It Is & How You Can Show Your Support. 
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NO LAUGHING MATTER

The State Office of the Auditor released its report on the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Competitive Grants and Report on Implementation of 2013 Recommendations.  The report is available HERE

According to Trustee Keli`i Akina, “While OHA implemented some of the recommendations from the last State audit of its grants program, much more should have been done by now.  

"We owe it to the Hawaiian people and to all citizens of the state to ensure that OHA funds are administered properly.  

"Rather than dispute the findings of the State Auditor, we should be implementing the Auditor's recommendations."

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"HOW 5+1 = 0"

How Can Five Plus One Equal Zero?

Itʻs Simple If Weʻre Talking About The Office Of Hawaiian Affairs.

It Explains How Trustees Can Be Kept In The Dark About Fraud & Corruption.

Watch This To See Why Weʻre Not Talking Fuzzy Math, But Rather About Accusations Of Wrong-Doing At OHA That Do Add Up.

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"WHY OHA WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE THESE THREE MYTHS"

The Smoke & Mirrors Have Kicked Into High Gear At The Office Of Hawaiian Affairs.

Now, OHAʻs Leadership Has Three Myths They Want You To Believe.

Because They Know If You Canʻt Change The Facts, Try To Change The Subject.

Watch This To Discover What These Three Myths Are & Why Theyʻre Just One Big Coverup.

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"WATCH OUT! - THE SCREWS ARE TIGHTENING AT OHA"

The Pressure Is Growing At The Office Of Hawaiian Affairs.

Why? Because The Forensic Audit Is Now Focused On OHAʻs LLCʻs.

What Are LLCʻs & Why Are They Under Such Scrutiny?

Watch This As We Explain About OHA LLC Wrongdoing Thatʻs Just The Tip Of The Iceberg.

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SHAME ON OHA!

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"WHY OHA NEEDS THIS TWELVE-STEP PROGRAM - PART TWO"

Last Week We Reported On Twelve Suggestions Made By You To Reform The Office Of Hawaiian Affairs. 

Last Wednesday We Told You About The First Six. 

Now We Reveal The Final Six & Get Ready, Because These Are Just As Good As The First Ones. 

Watch This To See Why This Twelve-Step Program Will Stop OHA From Spending Your Beneficiary Funds Like A Drunken Sailor.

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