The U.S. navy investigator who has been charged with bribery in a high profile Federal investigation is to plead guilty to the charge according to his defense attorneys. The investigator, John Beliveau, is one of several senior Navy officers who have been implicated in the bribery and corruption scandal which has enveloped the Navy. One of the officers, Navy Commander Jose Luis Sanchez, had been based at Tampa’s MacDill Air base. He was arrested in Tampa last November as the revelations into the case unfolded.
Another Navy Commander, Cmdr. Michael Misiewicz, has also been charged with the same offences as Sanchez.
Beliveau is accused of passing on information to the boss of a Malaysian defense company about the investigation into the other officers. He is alleged to have downloaded around 100 confidential files and passed them on to the defense contractor, Leonard Glenn Francis, nicknamed “Fat Leonard” because of his size. The investigator is accused of obtaining information about the progress of the bribery investigation into the activities of the two commanders as well as prompting him about what to do about it. Leonard apparently boasted that he had inside information from the NCIS. Thousands of text messages between the investigator and Francis have also been intercepted.
It is alleged that Beliveau was rewarded for his information and cooperation by being given access to Thai prostitutes and luxury trips.
The bribery allegations are a part of what is thought to have been a multi million dollar fraudulent operation by Leonard and his defense firm. Senior Navy officers were allegedly bribed so that they would provide information about Navy ship routings as well as facilitating sending Navy ships to port facilities in Malaysia and other ports in South East Asia. The defense firm would then charge a high fee for these facilities. It is estimated that the Navy was defrauded out of around $10 million in Thailand alone. Leonard and his cousin are alleged to have invented false port officials as part of their fraudulent activities.
Leonard, as well as his cousin, Alex Wisidagama, have both been arrested. They have both pleaded not guilty to the charges laid against them. The two commanders at the heart of the fraud investigation have also both pleaded not guilty.
The fact that Beliveau is to plead guilty to the charges against him is not yet a sign that he will cooperate any further with the ongoing investigation into the allegations made about the other officers and the defense company men. Beliveau’s defense attorney and prosecutors are apparently not saying whether the plea bargain is part of a deal offered in exchange for information about the bribes.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.