SINGAPORE, Sept 18 — A US Navy commander, a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent and a Singapore-based provider of services for American ships in Asia were charged in a bribery-kickback scheme involving prostitutes.
Leonard Glenn Francis, the chief executive officer of Glenn Defence Marine (Asia), provided travel expenses, entertainment and prostitutes to Navy Commander Michael Misiewicz in exchange for classified information about where US ships would come to port and his recommendation that ships visit ports preferred by Francis, according to a criminal complaint filed September 13 in federal court in San Diego.
Francis was arrested in San Diego September 16 and Misiewicz in Colorado, according to a statement from the US attorney’s office in San Diego. The NCIS agent, John Beliveau, who is accused of collecting information on a US investigation for Francis, was arrested in Virginia, according to the statement.
Glenn Defence Marine held Navy contracts for 25 years, with the most recent awarded in June 2011 to provide services to Navy ships and submarines in Southeast Asia, according to the complaint. The company’s services include providing for tugboats, fenders, customs fees, food, fuel, water and trash removal, the US said.
The bribery scheme involves “hundreds of millions of dollars” in defence contracts, prosecutors said. All three men are charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and face as long as five years in prison. The investigation is continuing, according to the statement.
Rear Admiral John Kirby, a spokesman for the Navy, declined to comment on the case.
Contact information for lawyers for the three men wasn’t immediately available from the US attorney’s office in San Diego. Phone listings weren’t available for Misiewicz in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Beliveau in Woodbridge, Virginia.
Calls to Glenn Defence Marine in Singapore weren’t answered. — Bloomberg
