In Brief
A retired Lieutenant General was convicted by General Court Martial of fraudulent conduct in food procurement for the Army and sentenced to cashiering and three years' imprisonment. The Armed Forces Tribunal reduced the sentence to dismissal. The Supreme Court set aside both orders and acquitted him entirely. The Court found that the AFT's own earlier decisions established the respondent's actions were within his authority; he had actually directed inquiries upon receiving complaints contrary to the charge; and his decisions resulted in savings to the government, not gains. Critically, the AFT found no actual fraud or loss, making conviction on an inferred intent to defraud legally unsustainable.
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