World News
U.S. Navy Behavior with GDMA "Just Constantly Outrageous"
In a recent court filing, prosecutors estimate the financial damage from alleged fraud and bribery involving the U.S. Navy and Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) at more than $20 million and say the figure is likely to keep rising, the Washington Post reports.
The investigation, which has involved more than 100 law enforcement agents working in eight Asian countries and the U.S., found the scandal points to systemic weaknesses in the Navy's contracting system.
Investigating agents found that GDMA executives forged hundreds of documents including invoices and price quotes from other suppliers to overcharge for fuel and other goods and services.
Within one nine-month period between 2011 and 2012, the company billed the Navy for $4 million in fictitious tariffs at two ports and submitted 282 false quotes from subcontractors in Thailand alone, resulting in a total loss of $6.3 million for the Navy, according to the court documents.
GDMA also allegedly inflated the price of fuel, adding more than $3 million to the bill for just five fuel purchases in Thailand in the fall of 2011.
"There is no way that anybody who's been there for five minutes can't have smelled something," said a senior executive with another maritime company in Asia.
"But the Navy routinely decided to look the other way.
"It was just constantly outrageous."
Four Navy officers, along with GDMA CEO Leonard Glenn Francis and another company official, have been charged in the scandal, and the company has been banned from doing business with the U.S.
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