Ex-U.N. Official Gets Eight Years for Bribery
By Associated Press | April 2, 2008
A former United Nations procurement official convicted of accepting bribes including two steeply discounted luxury Manhattan apartments has been sentenced to eight years and a month in prison.
A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Sanjaya Bahel, 57, yesterday after a jury found he had helped a friend win $100 million in U.N. contracts.
Bahel was chief of the U.N.'s Commodity Procurement Section from 1999 to 2003.
He has apologized and says he feels true remorse. He says he's lost everything and suffered public humiliation.
Bahel was convicted of bribery, wire fraud, and mail fraud last June. A defense lawyer says he'll return to his native India after he serves his sentence.
