Former Development Contractor Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison and $10,000 Fine

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Afghan Special Anti-Corruption Tribunal Court sentenced Din Mohammad Ramin, a former employee on a project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine for soliciting and receiving a kickback of approximately $5,000.

Ramin was arrested on December 18, 2011, and sentenced on March 27, 2012. The action came as part of an on-going campaign against fraud and waste in U.S. aid efforts in Afghanistan.

Ramin had received a bribe in exchange for processing a grant to a program beneficiary in Laghman Province while working as a procurement officer on a USAID-funded project. Ramin was not a U.S. government employee.

Ramin was arrested by the Afghan National Police and investigators from the Afghan Attorney General's Anti Corruption Unit with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development Office of Inspector General (USAID OIG).

"We greatly appreciate the outstanding work of the Afghan Attorney General's Office in bringing justice to this case," said Michael G. Carroll, the Acting Inspector General for USAID.  "The strong relationship they maintain with the USAID Office of Inspector General is essential to preventing fraud, waste, and abuse in USAID programs and operations."

Over the past five years, U.S. investigations of fraud committed in development projects in Afghanistan have resulted in over 60 U.S. individuals being charged and over 40 subsequent convictions of U.S. citizens. Those U.S. citizens who were convicted received a total of approximately 600 months incarceration in the United States. These investigations resulted in recoveries and cost savings in excess of $100 million. In the last fiscal year alone, U.S. civilian-military Inspectors General and U.S. law enforcement opened close to 100 new investigations, recovered in excess of $28 million, and realized more than $10 million in cost savings.

For more information about USAID's programs, please visit: http://afghanistan.usaid.gov

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 50 years."

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SOURCE USAID/OIG