A 57-year-old Indian, Sanjaya Bahel, a former United Nations procurement official, has been convicted of bribery, wire fraud and mail fraud charges on Friday for illegally helping his friend.

According to the report, he helped his friend in winning profitable UN contracts worth $100 million.

In return, he received cash and discounted luxury Manhattan apartments. Now, the court in US may award him 30 years in jail if the charges will be proved.

He will be kept in the jail until the hearing of the case and the sentence will be awarded in September.

Bahel was working on the post of chief of UN Commodity Procurement Department from 1999 to 2003. During the case hearing, he remained silent and slumped in his seat when the court read the verdict against him.

He was found guilty during the investigation done by the Volcker Committee in the Iraqi oil-for-food program. His role was looking suspicious when he had bended the rules to maneuver millions of dollars worth of contracts to his Indian friends.

Just after the conviction, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that the justice has been done. The UN’s investigators had given an 86-page dossier on Bahel to the prosecutors.

In the dosier, Bahel was made accused as for inviting re-bids only to ensure the contracts for his friend Nishan Kohli’s firm. Later, Kohli cooperated with the prosecutors and made statement against Bahel that made his conviction easy.

In return Kohli received merciful sentence for giving bribes. Kohli accepted that he had given cash to Bahel and sold two luxury apartments at much lower price.

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