HONOLULU -- The state Ethics Commission has begun an investigation into the former deputy transportation director who abruptly resigned three weeks ago while under fire for mismanagement and questionable ethical behavior.

Brian Sekiguchi was the state's deputy transportation director overseeing airports for seven years, until he suddenly quit Aug. 6.

His resignation came less than three weeks after State Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Donna Mercado Kim (D-Moanalua, Aiea, Kalihi Valley) accused him of accepting free tickets from an airport vendor to attend the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., in April of 2009. Kim also found he did not put in for vacation leave for one day of that same April vacation.

"I was on vacation, but did meet with airline officials while I was on the mainland. And that's something that we try to do sometimes to kill two birds with one stone," Sekiguchi told Kim at a July 19 hearing at the state capitol. After that July hearing, he put in for a vacation day on April 8, 2009, one of the days in question.

Tuesday, state transportation director Brennon Morioka said he asked Sekiguchi for documentation of the trip and receipts about who paid for what, but Sekiguchi did not comply with that request before quitting in early August.

"We have no intention on trying to cover up or defend anything that was done wrong, or process was not followed incorrectly," said Morioka.

Morioka said he will meet with state ethics commission officials about Sekiguchi’s case Tuesday. He said Sekiguchi met with ethics staff on Monday.

Kim’s investigation discovered Sekiguchi had a business meeting over a three-hour dinner paid for by an airline consultant on that April trip last year during a layover in Las Vegas.

It was a meeting that was not listed on Sekiguchi’s official schedule, was not urgent and could have been held in Honolulu, since some of the consultants actually live on Oahu, she said.

"Did you believe that this dinner in Las Vegas was an appropriate venue, an appropriate place for such a meeting to take place, to be considered official business?" Kim asked Morioka.

“I was not aware that he had a dinner meeting. I do not think that it would have been appropriate,” Morioka said.

"I guess he had a long layover in Las Vegas and I guess he needed to cop a meal at that point. I mean that's what it seems like," Kim told Morioka. “Which is it then, is it official business or official vacation? You can't have it both ways."

“Mr. Sekiguchi submitted his vacation request to cover that day," because of the questions raised about whether he was on business or vacation on April 8, 2009, Morioka said.

Morioka said the ethics investigation could turn into a criminal case.

"If there are inconsistencies, improprieties, then I will have a discussion with the attorney general's office," he said.

"It's one thing when we find that there are irregularities and discrepancies with these kinds of things. But then to cover it up," said Kim, frustrated that Morioka first defended Sekiguchi’s April meeting in Las Vegas as a business meeting and then later admitted it did not appear to be an appropriate location for a business gathering.

Morioka admitted he didn't ask enough questions about Sekiguchi's trip and should have probed further after senators asked about it earlier this summer.

Sekiguchi did not return messages left at his home or with his former secretary at the DOT Aug. 9, when KITV4 News first broke the story of his resignation.

Kim has been critical of the Lingle administration for creating a civil service airports administrator position that had not been authorized or funded by the Legislature.

Kim claimed the job requirements were written in such a way as to give Sekiguchi an advantage in getting the job, which would have allowed him to remain working for the state after the Lingle administration and other political appointees leave office at the end of the year. Sekiguchi was paid about $100,000 in his deputy director post before he stepped down.

Several other incidents and problems raised questions about the management of the airports division, which Sekiguchi oversaw since 2003 before resigning in August.

On July 27, state Procurement Office Administrator Aaron Fujioka found the state Department of Transportation violated procurement law when it hired two airport security consultants through Securitas Security Services USA, an airport security contractor.

An ongoing probe by Kim’s committee found the airports division is paying more than $500,000 a year to sublease a building it already owns on Ualena St. near Honolulu International Airport.

Parking contracts at neighbor island airports have been on a month-to-month basis for at least seven years.

The state is paying twice as much money to buy half the amount of land it had planned to purchase to expand the heliport area next to Lihue Airport on Kauai.

The state is failing to charge tenants at Lihue Airport $16,000 a month in solar system costs.