Democratic Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke was indicted by a grand jury on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery and falsifying candidate committee reports stemming from a bribe she allegedly took as a state lawmaker in 2022.

The indictment alleges that local businessman and lobbyist Tobi Solidum offered Luke a $35,000 bribe connected to a COVID-19 testing contract a company he recommended had with the state.

Solidum was also indicted as part of the state attorney general’s probe, along with former state representative Ryan Yamane, Hawaii’s Transportation Department official Ford Fuchigami, and Leo Asunción, a former official for Hawaii’s public utilities commission.

All five defendants were swept up as part of state Attorney General Anne Lopez’s January investigation, which was an offshoot of a federal bribery probe.

Solidum represented the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii, which had contracts with the state to provide COVID-19 testing sites.

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