US Navy commander pleads guilty to accepting bribes from Singapore-based contractor
Greed and lust sink officer who accepted kickbacks from Singapore defence contractor to pass on classified ship schedules
As a US Navy commander, Jose Luiz Sanchez should have embodied the service's unofficial motto of "not self, but country".
Instead, he used his Asian posting and the privileged information it afforded to avail himself of cash, prostitutes and luxury hotel stays, courtesy of a Singapore-based defence contractor at the heart of a wide-ranging corruption investigation.
Sanchez, 42, has pleaded guilty in federal court in San Diego, California, to bribery charges - becoming the highest-ranking officer convicted in connection with the case over maritime services firm Glenn Defence Marine Asia (GDMA), led by Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn Francis.
GDMA is accused of operating a corrupt network of US naval staff to provide secret information about the whereabouts and schedules of US warships.
"[He] lost sight of the navy's core values and embraced a lifestyle of greed," US Attorney Laura Duffy said.
Sanchez has admitted accepting bribes worth between US$30,000 (HK$233,000) and US$100,000 in exchange for passing classified ship schedules along to GDMA. The company held US$200 million in contracts to service navy ships from the Seventh Fleet at ports in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.
