DAP lawmaker Steven Sim wants the government to end its “deafening silence” on what has been dubbed the biggest corruption scandal in the US Navy in recent history.

The Bukit Mertajam MP urged the government to provide answers on the ‘Fat Leonard’ case, which has seen naval officers charged in the US and Singapore.

The scandal involves the diverting of US navy ships to several Southeast Asian ports owned by Malaysian defence industry contractor 'Fat' Leonard Francis.

"It was alleged that since 2011, Francis' company, Glenn Defence Marine Asia (GDMA), had been awarded contracts worth US$200 million by the US Navy," Sim said in a statement today.

The contractor's modus operandi, he added, would be to divert the US Navy's ships to "pearl ports" in the region such as Phuket or Port Klang.

Pearl ports, he explained, are ports where it would be easier to falsify invoices and mark up the charges.

"My earlier search revealed that GDMA did have operations in Port Klang and a company under the Glenn Marine Group was operating a cruise terminal in the port, the Port Klang Cruise Centre," he said.

Four questions for gov’t

Sim said that in light of the massive corruption scandal, the Malaysian government must answer four questions:

• Were there any Malaysian government officials, especially port officials, involved in this scandal?
• A former Malaysian Navy (TLDM) chief who later retired as the chief of the Malaysian Armed Forces had served on the board of GDMA and its related companies; was there any undue influence or abuse of power in relation to Francis' businesses in Malaysia?
• TLDM was also a client of GDMA. Did Francis use the same modus operandi on TLDM officials?
• The arrival of USS George Washington in 2012 was heralded by no less than the then Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his deputy. (From the case under probe it) is now clear that the visit involved corruption and abuse of power. Were any Malaysian officials including the defence minister involved?

The government has so far chosen to keep silent on this issue, he said, despite the massive investigation in the US and elsewhere.

"It is time the Malaysian government came out to give an answer to these critical questions," he said.

'Explain 2012 warship visit'

Sim said that in 2012, when the USS George Washington visited Port Klang, Zahid, who is now the deputy prime minister, had "boasted" that the ship's visit was to boost diplomatic and military cooperation between the two countries.

However, Sim clarified, it was later revealed that the docking of USS George Washington in Port Klang was part of Francis' "illicit money-making scheme".

"The then deputy defence minister, Abdul Latiff Ahmad, also said that the visit of USS George Washington offered economic opportunities for Malaysia,” he said.

He queried whether these “economic opportunities” had any relations with the Francis case.

US court documents had also revealed Francis and his co-conspirators have submitted to the US Navy fraudulent representations related to port tariff items, added Sim.

"It was also revealed that Francis created sham companies or used contractors to falsely represent them to the US Navy to be port authorities; 'including Lumut, Malaysia: SW Maritime Sdn Bhd and Sepangar, Malaysia: MY Maritime Network'."

"He also submitted fraudulent ‘inflated invoices purporting to be from legitimate port authorities, including Langkawi: Star Cruises Langkawi Cruise Centre Sdn. Bhd.’[...]

"This clearly shows the failure in managing and enforcing laws in our ports resulted in the ports becoming centres for criminal syndicates to conduct fraud," Sim said.

US Navy fleeced US$35m

Francis pleaded guilty last year to bribing a number of US Navy officials, according to The Washington Post.

He admitted to bribing Navy officials with “cash, sex, and gifts worth millions of dollars”, said the US daily, so he could win more defence contracts and fleece the Navy of US$35 million in excessive charges.

A total of 14 have been charged in relation to the case, including a one-star US Navy admiral. A former Navy contracting official has also been charged with corruption by Singapore authorities.