Special Prosecutor Michael Copeland on Friday filed four counts of Misconduct in Public Office and four counts of bribery against Helena Yoichi, Employment Service Officer from the Division of Labor.
The charges stemmed from the illegal acts that happened on January until June of this year.Copeland stated in the information that Yoichi on “separate occasions did illegal acts under the color of office and accepted $20 from Mathias Erbai to process his employment papers at the Labor Office.”The information stated that Yoichi “accepted $150 from Elena Vidal Dancel to process her papers at the Labor for HE Enterprise Group of Companies.”The affidavit of investigator Mcvey Kazuyuki stated that potential crimes of misconduct in public office and bribery were reported to their office in early of 2009.The affidavit stated that an accountant for Haruo Esang at the HE Enterprise Group of Companies admitted that she had taken Yoichi out to lunch on three separate occasions between April and first week of May 2009.The accountant admitted that she invited Yoichi to lunch during the time she submits or follow up the status of their employees’ permits and provisional visa.The affidavit further stated that the accountant went to the Division of Labor on the last week of May to submit their workers applications and Yoichi asked her for $150.The document stated that she gave the $150 on May 28 during a lunch date with Yoichi.The affidavit stated that Mathias Erbai, owner of Hai Yun Restaurant admitted that he submitted his employees’ paperwork to Yoichi along with $20 for her lunch.Yoichi was the second officer from Labor who was slapped with criminal charges for illegal activities.Earlier the chief of Division of Labor Russel Masayos was charged with bribery, misconduct in public office and people smuggling for fixing the permits of three Chinese women in exchange of money.
