New York: A former UN official from India, convicted of helping a friend win US $ 100 million in UN contracts in return of cash, gifts and a discounted luxury Manhattan apartment, has been sentenced to more than eight years in jail by a US court.

Sanjaya Bahel, 58, former chief procurement officer for the United Nations, was awarded 97 months of imprisonment by a judge here yesterday on six counts of fraud, conspiracy and accepting corrupt payments.

Bahel, who has been behind bars since the UN sacked him a year ago, was convicted of providing secret, back-channel communication to his businessman friend and the friend's son, helping them win US $ 100 million in contracts for computer equipment and technical support during a four-year period from 1999.

In return, Bahel received 10 per cent of the profits, including thousands of dollars in cash each month, first-class plane tickets and a steeply discounted three-bedroom condo at the Dag Hammarskjold Towers in midtown Manhattan.

"The UN attempts and certainly has the goal of having its operations conducted in an honest manner. That depends on individuals employed by the United Nations," Manhattan Federal Judge Thomas Griesa was quoted as saying by the New York Post.

Before he was sentenced, Bahel, who was found guilty by a jury last June, broke down while describing the effects of his imprisonment on his family, including his wife who faces deportation to India while he serves time in the US.

Bahel also apologised to his elderly parents, telling the judge, "I will never be able to come to terms with the immense pain I have brought in their final years."

"All that I have has been lost," Bahel said. "I stand before you, your honour, with nothing left to offer except the promise of hope and redemption."

Prosecutors sought a harsher sentence of at least 10 years behind bars, but the judge said his "immediate reaction" was to reject that as too high. The judge said there was no way to view the case without "a profound sense of the tragedy".

"We all wish it had never occurred, but it did occur and the reason is Mr Bahel," he said.

Source : PTI