Sometimes the money trail winds past dark and little-known corners of government.

The city's corpse removal contract is one of them.

Last year the cost of the contract tripled, and the city Ethics Commission is looking into how the contract was awarded and who does the work.

For years, the contract was held by a company called American Professional Transport. From 2000-2006, APT was paid $41.67 for every corpse that it picked up and delivered to the medical examiner's facility for autopsies.

Somebody's got to do it.

The owner of American Pacific Transport, it turns out, is a city employee, James "Kimo" Cullen, who works at the medical examiner's office.

Cullen said he works as a pathologist's assistant for the city during the day and at night he runs APT. When he's on city time, other employees of APT handle the business, he said.

The 2000-2006 contract was supposed to be for two years, but it was renewed twice after Cullen agreed not to raise his prices.

This year, however, the city put the contract out to bid again. APT initially offered $150 per body, but Cullen said last week that he withdrew the bid because he was "tired" of the work.

The low bidder was a security guard company, Star Protection Agency, at a price of $137.77 per body.

After landing the contract, Star told the city that it was subcontracting the work to APT.

Under the subcontract, APT is paid $85 per body.

Star Protection gets to keep the difference between what it charges the city, $138 per body, and what it pays APT, $85. That's $53 per corpse. The contract estimates approximately 750 removals per year.

Cullen said that when Star official Anderson Hee offered APT the subcontract, "I talked it over with my boys" at APT and they decided to keep doing the work.

Hee, a retired Honolulu Police Department homicide detective, only talked to Cullen about the subcontract after Star had won the contract, Cullen said. Terms of the contract require bidders to quote prices that "are independently arrived at without collusion."

Hee said Star's part of the work is to "supply the insurance, handle the paperwork, the billings."

If it hadn't subcontracted with APT, Star would have "had to go out and buy vans and hire employees to move these bodies," Hee said.

City Ethics Commission executive director Charles Totto said last week his office is investigating the corpse removal contract. He declined to elaborate.

Cullen said he knew nothing about the investigation. But he added that his involvement in the corpse removal work was cleared by the city way back in 1988 or 1989, when he began working for APT as an employee. He later purchased the company and its assets.

Hee also said he was unaware of an ethics investigation. "We cleared everything with the city, with the medical examiner's office," he said.

If you know that a particular money trail will lead to boondoggle, excessive spending or white elephants, reach Jim Dooley at 535-2447 or jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com