Leonard Glenn Francis (aka "Fat Leonard") photographed with several US Navy officers. Photo: The Washington Post.
Leonard Glenn Francis, also known as “Fat Leonard,” who escaped two weeks ago from house arrest in San Diego, California, USA, expressed his desire to request for asylum in Venezuela, according to sources in the Venezuelan judicial system.
“Fat Leonard,” 58, born in Malaysia, is on trial for allegedly bribing high-ranking US Navy officers in exchange for favorable contracts for his shipping company Glenn Defense Marine, according to the Interpol file. He was arrested last Wednesday, September 21 at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, La Guaira state, Venezuela, before boarding a flight to Moscow.
Criminal Responsible for US Navy Corruption Scandal Arrested in Venezuela
On Thursday, September 22, Leonard Glenn was presented before the 27th Court of Control of Caracas. In that presentation hearing, Venezuela’s Public Ministry, through the prosecutor Jesús Sánchez, charged him with the crimes of illicit association to commit a bribe, bribery, and illicit association to defraud the United States, judicial sources revealed.
During the hearing, Leonard Glenn said that he wants to stay in Venezuela to reunite with his wife and family because he has a phase-4 renal carcinoma (cancer) with metastasis, according to medical reports added to file 27C-19.994-2022. Given this circumstance, he stated that he will request political asylum in Venezuela. He also acknowledged having fled the United States, where he was serving a sentence of 15 years in prison, of which he had served 10, according to his testimony.
Interpol RedNotice
Leonard Glenn’s arrest occurs because he had a Red Notice from Interpol, an alert code for any country to arrest him and notify the United States, to initiate an extradition process.
The Red Notice was filed by the United States on September 9, after learning that the man had escaped. After breaking the shackle placed on his right foot, he crossed the border to Mexico, from where he flew to Cuba’s Porlamar (Margarita Island), and finally, to Caracas.
Interpol’s internal file says that “between approximately 2004 and September 2013, Leonard Glenn Francis and others defrauded the United States for more than $35 million dollars.”
The file states that Francis was president of Glenn Defense Marine, a Singapore company that provided shipping agency services to the United States Navy during its operations in the Pacific Ocean.
The shipping agency chaired by Francis coordinated, programmed, and directly or indirectly acquired the items and services needed by American ships and submarines when they arrived at port in the Asian region.
Francis and his company submitted “fraudulently inflated” payment claims to the US Navy for services under contract, the Interpol file says. Francis’s company paid bribes to US Navy commanders “in cash, travel expenses, luxury hotel stays, extravagant lunches, and prostitute services.”
To date, there are 33 high-ranking officers of the United States Navy who received convictions for implication in this corruption plot, according to the sentences, further evidence of how corrupt the US Army is.
Ambassador Alex Saab
Many in Venezuela, since the arrest of Leonard Glenn Francis was made public, have expressed their desire that the Venezuelan government uses his detention as a bargaining token to achieve the freedom of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, wrongfully incarcerated in the United States after an irregular extradition procedure from Cape Verde.
Saab has been persecuted and submitted to a heavy media smear campaign launched by Washington, in its typical bullying behavior. Saab was a very successful Venezuelan negotiator, assigned the task of circumventing illegal US sanctions against the Venezuelan people. He was unlawfully detained in Cape Verde more that two years ago, in June 2020.
(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
