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Former U.N. Official Convicted of Bribery
 I'm "deeply concerned about this in no uncertain terms", I tells ya...NEW YORK (AP) -- A former United Nations procurement official was convicted Thursday of charges that he helped a friend secure $100 million dollars in U.N. contracts in exchange for a huge discount on two luxury Manhattan apartments and cash. Sanjaya Bahel, chief of the U.N.'s Commodity Procurement Section from 1999 to 2003, had maintained his innocence since his November arrest. He was convicted of bribery, wire fraud and mail fraud, charges which carry a potential penalty of up to 30 years in prison. Bahel slumped in his chair when the verdict was read. Not a good coupla months for the Sanjaya's of the world... His former co-defendant, Nishan Kohli, pleaded guilty to bribery and testified against Bahel, saying he gave his family so much inside information about pending contracts that the Kohlis came to think of Bahel as a business partner. Kohli, of Miami, testified that as the favors poured in, the Kohlis rewarded Bahel by letting him rent two luxury midtown Manhattan apartments at a huge discount and later buy them cheaply. Kohli said Bahel advised the family how to qualify for U.N. contracts it otherwise might not get and even wrote some of its correspondence with the United Nations. Kohli also testified he bribed two U.N. procurement officers with a lavish night on the town that included a strip club visit and a hotel room with prostitutes. He said he repeated the night for one of them a few more times, paying for a prostitute again. I wonder how old the hookers were? Posted by: tu3031 2007-06-08 |
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