According to former military officers and government watchdog advocates, what’s more shocking is how little the 'Fat Leonard' case has changed the Navy’s way of doing business.
File photo of Rear Adm. Robert Gilbeau entering the federal courthouse in San Diego on Thursday, June 9, 2016.
“You would expect that one of the largest corruption scandals in the history of the United States Navy would provoke pretty dramatic changes to prevent something like this from happening again in the future. But sadly, that’s not really the case,” said Dan Grazier, a former Marine who now works as a military analyst at the Project on Government Oversight in Washington.The case has centered around Leonard Glenn Francis who admitted in 2015 to offering $500,000 in bribes to Navy officers.
Prosecutors say Francis and his company overcharged the U.S. military by more than $35 million for its services between 2004 and 2013, which included providing food and water to the ships at Pacific ports in Asia. Navy officials vowed to clean up their contracting processes in response to the scandal and implemented more oversight. Sailors received more ethics training. Supply officers have less independence. Goods and services now must be priced at current market rates as determined by the Navy’s Fleet Logistics Centers.
Grazier fears the case's biggest impact has been on young people like his son who is an enlisted sailor. In Asia, for instance, it's common to go out for drinks or dinner to form business relationships yet many junior officers are expected to pay out of their own pockets, though many can't afford it. Hooper said the Navy should be footing those bills rather than creating situations that lend themselves to corruption.
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