Scheme to steal $20 million from Navy detailed

Alex Wisidagama, a former executive of Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia, pleaded guilty today (March 18) to participating in a scheme to get the United States to overpay $20 million for supplies and services.

The government has charged that the owner of the Singapore company, Leonard Glenn Francis, cousin of Wisidagama, bribed Navy officials with luxury travel and prostitutes in exchange for information that helped Glenn win hundreds of millions of dollars in Navy contracts.

Wisidagama revealed several tricks he and others used to bilk the Navy, including using fraudulent invoices, offering phony competitive bids, and creating fictitious port authorities with inflated port-tariff rates. This is the second guilty plea in the scam.