‘Fat Leonard’ pleads guilty in US Navy bribery scam

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian contractor at the center of a corruption scandal rocking the US Navy pleaded guilty to fraud charges on Thursday, admitting to bribing officials with cash, prostitutes, Cuban cigars and Kobe beef.
Known as “Fat Leonard” by the American sailors who dealt with him, 50-year-old Leonard Francis of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) entered a guilty plea in a federal court in San Diego, confirming he presided over a decade-long scheme involving tens of millions of dollars in bribes, prosecutors said.
In addition, his ship supply company, GDMA, pleaded guilty to bribery charges and US Navy Captain Daniel Dusek pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, the hightest-ranking officer so far to admit wrongdoing in the case. Four other current and former naval officers have been charged in the scandal.
Dusek, 47, admitted to using his position as a senior officer to ensure ships stopped at ports where Francis’s company operated, and on one occasion arranged for an aircraft carrier strike group to stop at Port Klang, Malaysia, a terminal owned by Francis, officials said.
The plea by “Fat Leonard,” portrayed as the ringleader of the bribery scheme, represents a coup for prosecutors in the worst scandal to hit the navy in years. It also raised the possibility that more naval officers could be implicated. Federal prosecutors said the investigation was “ongoing” and that the case was not closed.