KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian maritime and defence contractor who landed in trouble with the law in the United States has had his sentencing deferred by six months.
Leonard Glenn Francis, 57, known as "Fat Leonard", is the chief executive, president and chairman of his Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA).
He was supposed to have been sentenced on March 26 for allegedly defrauding the United States Navy's Pacific Seventh Fleet of almost US$35 million.
It is, perhaps, the biggest bribery scandal that rocked the US Navy with dozens of top brass, including several admirals, charged for being implicated in the case.
It has been brought to the New Straits Times' attention that according to court dockets, Leonard's case was rescheduled for Sept 24 in San Diego, California.
The NST learnt that Leonard, who reportedly had become a prime prosecution witness, has had his sentencing before US district court judge Jannis L. Sammartino, rescheduled multiple times.
Prosecutors told the court that Francis had cooperated with investigators but was stricken with renal cancer and needed medical care.
Francis is on a medical furlough (humanitarian parole or compassionate release) in a San Diego rented apartment in California under tight security and surveillance by US authorities, after having served five years imprisonment.
In January 2015, Francis pleaded guilty to bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
However, as part of a plea bargain, Sammartino agreed to forfeit "not less than" US$35 million but she will determine the final and full amount of forfeiture when Francis is eventually sentenced.
Subsequently, he was reportedly released from federal prison in Dec 2017 to seek medical treatment at a hospital.
Leonard's father, prominent shipping, husbanding and chandlering agent Michael Francis, 84, died from pneumonia, heart and kidney complications, in April 25 in Penang.
Francis is reportedly the founder of Glenn Marine Enterprise at Swettenham Pier in Penang in 1946, before Leonard took over the realms around the year 2000.
Owing to the strict Movement Control Order's standard operating procedure, following the global Covid-19 pandemic, only his wife Suan Francis and grand-son Leonardo could be present at his wake (at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Taman Guan Joo Seng, Green Lane) and burial (at the Western Road cemetery) in Penang on April 29.
GDMA owned Glenn Marine Logistics Base and Glenn Ports and Cruise Terminals; and at one time also owned the Port Klang Cruise Centre (PKCC) Sdn Bhd in Pulau Indah.
However, PKCC was later bought over by Boustead Holdings Berhad in 2014, which in turn was acquired by Westport Holdings Bhd and Klang Port Management Sdn Bhd in March this year.
Francis is also known in naval and maritime circles as "Lion King" and "Big Bro" for his towering 1.8m tall and 158kg frame.
By Sept 2013, GDMA became the central public focus of an ongoing investigation into the mega corruption scandal, where Francis allegedly recruited a network of moles within the US Navy, to ensure their vessels berthed at ports where his firm offered support services.
The moles reportedly would provide him with classified operational schedules of navy ships, and alert him when naval auditors tried to investigate suspicious business transactions with GMDA.
In exchange, prosecutors alleged that Francis would supply the navy officials with prostitutes, travel expenses, booze, pricy meals, luxury hotel stays, tickets to Lady Gaga concerts and other perks.
Francis was arrested on fraud and bribery charges in San Diego in Sept 2013, after federal investigators lured him to the US on the pretext of a business meeting with navy officials.
Also arrested was his cousin and GMDA global manager for government contracts Alex Wisidagama, 42, of Singapore.
In March 2016, Wisidagama was sentenced to 63 months in prison and ordered to to pay the US Navy US$34.8 million in restitution by Sammartino.
Also charged were GMDA global operations vice-president Neil Peterson, 37, and its general manager for Singapore, Australia and the Pacific Isles Linda Raja, 44, who were extradited from Singapore in 2016.
In 2017, both pleaded guilty for conspiracy to defraud - Peterson was sentenced to 70 months and former air-stewardess Linda to 46 months in prison.
Both were ordered by Sammartino to pay US$34.8 million in restitution. They have served out their sentences and have been returned to Singapore.
News reports stated that Francis was a father of five, with three children from a previous marriage.
In 2017, he courted controversy again after his five-year Filipina companion, Morena Galvizo De Jesus, 38, filed complaints in the Philippines and Singapore.
Morena complained that Francis had in 2009 "abducted" their son and daughter, then aged one and two, respectively.
Francis first got into trouble with the law back in 1989 as a 21-year-old when he was sentenced to three years' jail and six strokes of the cane by the Penang High Court, for possession of two revolvers after being involved in running a pub in Penang.