The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln prepares to pull into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for a scheduled port visit, Nov. 22, 2024. (Kassandra Alanis/U.S. Navy)
The USS Abraham Lincoln pulled into Port Klang over the weekend, marking the first U.S. aircraft carrier visit to Malaysia in more than a decade following a high-profile bribery scandal involving a Malaysian contractor.
The carrier sailed through the Strait of Malacca and docked at the port southwest of Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, for a scheduled stop, the Navy announced Monday.
The visit is the first by a U.S. aircraft carrier to Malaysia since the USS George Washington stopped there in 2012. That visit preceded the arrest of Leonard Glenn Francis — also known as “Fat Leonard” — who orchestrated a decade-long scheme to bribe U.S. Navy officials.
Francis, the former head of Glenn Defense Marine Asia, pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to defraud the United States. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in November for paying off more than 30 Navy officials with cash, prostitutes and luxury travel to secure lucrative contracts.
The Department of Justice said Francis swindled the Navy out of more than $30 million. Port Klang was among Francis’ “pearl ports,” named for their profitability in the scheme.
In 2010, Francis conspired with Navy Capt. Daniel Dusek to redirect the Abraham Lincoln to Port Klang, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
“[Dusek] is a golden asset to drive the big decks into our fat revenue GDMA ports,” Francis wrote to one of his employees, the Justice Department announced in 2015.
Dusek was sentenced in 2016 to 42 months in prison, according to the department.
Another Navy officer involved in the case, Capt. David Haas, is seeking a reduction of a felony conviction to a misdemeanor after prosecutorial misconduct resulted in the reduction or dismissal of nine other defendants’ felony convictions.
Leonard’s defense team filed paperwork to appeal his conviction on Nov. 19.
The Abraham Lincoln’s return to Port Klang on Saturday was meant to reaffirm the strong ties between the U.S. and Malaysia, the Navy said in Monday’s release. The visit highlights the countries’ “close people-to-people, economic, and security ties,” it added.
Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Jamie Moroney declined to comment on how long the Abraham Lincoln will stay in port, citing operational security concerns.
Moroney did not respond to a question about the significance of the carrier’s visit in the wake of the scandal, instead pointing out how such port calls provide opportunities for ship resupplies and crew relaxation.
“The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group stands ready to support any mission in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” she added.
