You Lie, You Lose: Defense Department Employee Arrested in Navy Bribery Scheme
A former senior Defense Department employee was arrested Tuesday on
allegations he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for
helping a Malaysian defense contractor, in one of the Navy's worst
corruption cases.
Paul Simpkins was arrested Tuesday in Haymarket, Va., and later
arraigned on a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with
a scheme to steer lucrative Navy contracts to Singapore-based Glenn
Defense Marine Asia or GDMA and stave off its competitors.
Simpkins, a former senior federal contracting officer for the Navy,
could not be reached for comment, nor could his defense lawyer.
"With the arrest of Paul Simpkins, who was recently among the Defense
Department's high ranking civilians, we have uncovered yet another
tentacle of this pervasive bribery scheme," said U.S. Attorney Laura
Duffy, whose office wants Simpkins sent to San Diego to face charges.
"The more we learn about the extent of the greed and corruption, the
more determined we are to eviscerate it."
The complaint alleges that Simpkins accepted several hundred thousand
dollars in cash and wire transfers, travel and the services of
prostitutes in exchange for getting Navy contracts for GDMA, which has
supplied food, fuel and other supplies to Navy vessels at Asian ports
for 25 years.
Francis allegedly paid Simpkins by hand-delivering over $150,000 in cash
and by making several wire transfers to a bank account held in the name
of Simpkins's wife at the time. Simpkins allegedly used an email
account belonging to his mistress to advise Francis of the routing and
account information of the bank account belonging to his wife, according
to prosecutors.
The arrest comes only weeks after the case's central figure, GDMA's
chief executive officer Leonard Glenn Francis, pleaded guilty in federal
court in San Diego to buying off U.S. military officials.
Known in military circles as "Fat Leonard" because of his large size,
Francis and his firm obtained classified information that allowed his
company to overbill the U.S. military by at least $20 million, according
to the plea agreement. Francis has acknowledged bribing officials with
more than $500,000 in cash and a staggering amount of luxury goods worth
millions. The goods included spa treatments, top-shelf alcohol,
designer handbags, leather goods, designer furniture, watches, fountain
pens, ornamental swords and handmade ship models, according to court
documents.
In exchange, Navy officers re-routed ships to ports owned by Francis and
helped him boost his business. Francis faces up to 25 years in prison
and is scheduled to be sentenced in April.
So far, seven people, including Francis and three Navy officers, have
entered guilty pleas, and prosecutors say the probe is far from over.
Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz has pleaded not guilty to bribery
charges.
Prosecutors say Simpkins also interceded on GDMA's behalf in contract
disputes with the Navy. In 2006, when Simpkins's subordinate recommended
that GDMA's husbanding contract in Thailand not be extended because of
"many exceedingly high cost" items, Simpkins allegedly overruled his
subordinate and extended it, according to the complaint.
Simpkins allegedly instructed U.S. Navy officials in Hong Kong to
discontinue the use of meters that monitored the volume of liquid waste
that GDMA removed from Navy ships, according to court papers. The use of
meters is to ensure proper accounting of the amount of waste removed
and prevent overbilling.
Simpkins also asked a Navy official not to
review invoices that GDMA submitted in connection to a recent port call
in Hong Kong after Francis complained that U.S. Navy personnel were
asking questions.