HONOLULU ATTORNEY INDICTED FOR FALSE TAX RETURNS

Tax Director Marie Okamura announced that on July 18, 2001, a Honolulu Grand jury returned a true bill charging Honolulu attorney Eric T. Maehara for the filing of false income tax returns and theft in the second degree.

The indictment charged Eric Maehara for filing false income tax returns for the years 1996, 1997 and 1998. Mr. Maehara was also charged for obtaining tax refunds for 1996, 1997 and 1998 which he was not entitled to receive.

The violation of filing false tax returns is a Class C felony and punishable with a fine of $100,000 and/or imprisoned not more than 3 years for each year.  The violation of theft in the 2nd degree is a Class C felony and punishable with a fine of $10,000 and/or imprisoned not more than 5 years.

Tax Director Okamura continues to encourage taxpayers to voluntarily file their tax returns.  The department will generally not initiate a criminal investigation when taxpayers voluntarily come forward to report their failure to file or other omissions.