Navy declines to review contract linked to scandal

The New Zealand Navy has decided not to review its contracts with a Singapore-based company which is embroiled in a multi-million dollar corruption scandal. The Navy paid over $700,000 to Leonard Francis's port services company for specific ship visits in South East Asia between May 2007 and December 2011. Craig Whitlock, a reporter with the Washington Post who has been covering the story, says 'Fat Leonard' as he's known was a legendary figure in Naval circles who had vast network from Vladivostok in Russia right down to Perth in Australia. "If the New Zealand Navy only had to pay $700,000 that's pretty small potatoes. The US Navy would pay Leonard that much for a single port visit on a single day sometimes."