By SPA
Washington : A former senior United Nations officer has been sentenced to eight years in jail for accepting a variety of bribes in exchange for information about UN contracts.
Sanjaya Bahel was convicted last June of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cash, first-class plane tickets and real estate deals from Nishan Kohli, a businessman working with the UN.
In exchange, Bahel gave Kohli inside information that helped Kohli’s company, Thunderbird Industries, and other firms he represented, in bids for UN contracts.
The deals began as early as 2000, prosecutors said.
Kohli earlier pleaded guilty in the case and testified against Bahel, who was convicted of mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and accepting corrupt payments by an official of organization receiving federal funds.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon responded to the conviction last year through his spokesperson.
“The secretary general expects all vendors, contractors and their representatives to conduct their business with the United Nations with highest levels of integrity and honesty,” the statement said.