Leonard Glenn Francis, known as Fat Leonard, had apparently sent the two with his mother to Kuala Lumpur first in 2010, before packing them off to the US to beat the court order.

Francis said the US authorities had acceded to his request as recent as 2018 to let the two Malaysian children and another child, which he said was borne by another Filipino mistress, to live with him although he is under house arrest pending his sentencing.

He was speaking exclusively to US journalist Tom Wright in the sixth of his nine-episode podcast uploaded on Spotify yesterday.

In the episode, Wright also interviewed his partner Morena de Jesus, whom Francis kept referring to as his mistress, who said she obtained a court order in the Philippines for the custody of the children, which was later upheld by a Singapore family court.

When Wright asked Francis how the US authorities had allowed the children in, he said they were brought in legally.

“Everybody came legal, Uncle Sam (the US government) knew what I was doing, not that they did not know about it. For them, my children are my children and my well-being is important to them more than anything else.

“I am their star witness,” he said, referring to the corruption cases that are pending involving senior navy officers who had colluded with him to siphon off millions of dollars in supply contracts.

He said that his mother had looked after the three children before they came to stay with him.

Francis was accused of providing cash, prostitutes, travel expenses, luxury items and concert tickets to US navy officers, including those from the US Seventh Fleet-– which controls the movement of 60 ships and submarines, 150 aircraft and 20,000 sailors in a huge operational area stretching from Hawaii to India – in return for information.

The navy officers provided him with classified information such as ship movements and allowed him to overcharge the navy for services his company provided them, which included communications, ground transport and sewage removal.

When Wright asked why he had abducted his children and has not allowed them to see their mother for more than 10 years, Francis said: “No, I did not kidnap the kids. The women are all just mistresses, and my children were legally born and they have my name. And they are Malaysian citizens. They were mistresses and I fired them. The US Department of Justice does not give a damn about hookers.

“When you are wealthy, when you’ve got money, everyone wants a piece of the cake. They are my flesh and my blood, I am responsible, I don’t have babies just for fun, not me. I’m here to finish my mission for my kids, besides Uncle Sam’s,” he said.

He said the women came with their “eyes open” and knew he had multiple wives and partners and that he was a “playboy”.

“They were dropping like flies, I push them away, but they come back for you. I have had multiple partners, wives. I’m not a bad husband but women just can’t keep up with me.”

Earlier, he spoke of his life in the late teens when he was in Penang, living under an abusive father who kept hitting his mother and siblings. He said his philandering ways saw him bring other women to his house despite his mother’s protests.

“I was 15 when I once stopped him (his father) when he attacked my mother. I sat him down and warned him never to do it ever again,” adding that his father had been doing this for years.

Francis said he was brought up in a strict Catholic family, and he was a “deep practising” one carrying the Bible and rosary everywhere he went. “I can be foul but my heart is gold,” he said with a laugh.

However, de Jesus said Francis was “evil and one with no heart” as he confessed to her that he had deep psychological scars and was paranoid because of his father’s philandering and abusive ways when he was young.

She told Wright she had been searching for her two children, who should be 13 and 12 years old now, for the last 10 years, and praying for a reunion.

De Jesus, who is married and lives in Sydney now, only learnt from Wright that they were with their father in San Diego.

“I am not surprised because he has the money and connections,” she said.

She hoped the US government would allow her to be reunited with her children.