Gaming debt bad check charges dropped against businessman

Monday, May 8, 2000 | 11:24 a.m.

HONOLULU -- Prosecutors in Las Vegas have dropped some of the charges against a bankrupt Indonesian businessman accused of writing millions of dollars in bad checks to cover gambling debts.

Sukamto Sia was accused of writing $6 million in bad checks to the Rio hotel-casino more than two years ago.

Those charges were dropped last week, but Sia still faces charges of writing bad checks at Caesars Palace. A meeting to review the remaining charges is scheduled for July.

"We are hopeful that he will be exonerated in that case as well," said David Chesnoff, a lawyer for Sia in Las Vegas.

Sia could not be reached for comment.

Sia is the former owner of the Executive Centre in downtown Honolulu and past chairman of the Bank of Honolulu. He filed for bankruptcy protection in November 1998 after the bad-check charges were filed, claiming $9.3 million in assets against nearly $300 million in debts.

He was accused of writing more than $8 million in bad checks to cover his Nevada gambling debts.

Sia resigned as chairman of the Bank of Honolulu in the wake of the bad-check charges.

A Honolulu attorney representing the Rio, Don Gelber, said the hotel's $6 million claim against Sia is still pending in federal bankruptcy court in Honolulu.