Scam Earns Ex-U.N. Official 4-Year Term

By Larry Neumeister
October 13, 2007
AP
Original Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iB6hBcWQxu4r4wduqgVI8KhhjgDgD8S81EFG0 http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iB6hBcWQxu4r4wduqgVI8KhhjgDgD8S81EFG0 


NEW YORK (AP) — A former Russian diplomat who once chaired the United Nations' powerful budget oversight committee was sentenced Friday to four years and three months in prison for laundering money from companies seeking U.N. contracts.

Vladimir Kuznetsov, 49, also was fined $73,000 by U.S. District Court Judge Deborah A. Batts, who noted the government's claim that he could not account for ten times that amount in assets.

I never meant to damage and spoil the image of the United Nations — quite the opposite, he told the court. To the extent that any damage has been done to that image, I deeply regret it.

The government asked that he be imprisoned immediately but the judge allowed him to remain free for 10 days. Kuznetsov hugged family and friends as he left court.

A jury convicted Kuznetsov in March of conspiring with a U.N. procurement officer to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies seeking U.N. contracts.

A budget expert and career diplomat, Kuznetsov was charged in 2005 after an internal U.N. investigation of Alexander Yakovlev, a Russian who worked in the U.N. procurement office.

Yakovlev pleaded guilty in 2005 to soliciting a bribe, wire fraud and money laundering, admitting he took nearly $1 million in bribes from U.N. contractors and gave them confidential information about the contracts.

The government said Kuznetsov established an offshore company in 2000 to hide payments from Yakovlev, who would testify against him.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan waived Kuznetsov's immunity at the request of U.S. authorities.