Former OHA Finance Chief Sues Over Whistleblower Retaliation - Honolulu Civil Beat
UPDATED: The former official alleges that he was targeted for raising concerns over the office’s finances. Reading time: 4 minutes.
A former official at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has sued the agency as well as its former chief executive officer alleging whistleblower retaliation and “corrupt and unlawful practices.”
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in First Circuit Court by David Laeha, former chief financial officer of OHA, details several instances in which Laeha was allegedly ordered to complete improper payments for contracts and was blocked when he tried to report instances of harassment of himself and others.
In whistleblower suit, former OHA executive claims he was fired for questioning spending
Former OHA executive files whistleblower lawsuit, claiming he was fired for highlighting questionable spending By Rick Daysog | January 27, 2021 at 5:52 PM HST - Updated January 27 at 6:30 PM
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - A former high-ranking Office of Hawaiian Affairs executive has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the organization.
David Laeha, OHA’s former chief financial officer, alleged that former OHA CEO Kamanao Crabbe began to retaliate against him just months after he was hired in 2017 and eventually fired him in 2019.
His suit alleged that he was fired because because he questioned why OHA was not properly reporting millions of dollars in expenditures to state lawmakers and to the public.