Three former Marshall Islands government workers found guilty by a jury of defrauding the government of more than 47,000 dollars in US grant funding have been sentenced.
Judge James Plasman sentenced Nella Nashion, Donny Andrike and Steve Samuel each to three years in jail, with half the time to be served and half the sentence suspended.
In addition, each is required to pay restitution of over 7,300 US dollars to the government as their portion of the 47,000 dollars that was stolen from US grant funding provided to the Ministry of Health in 2009.
The Judge also noted if the Marshall Islands government is required to reimburse the US government for money stolen, the restitution from the defendants shall be applied to this.
Nashion is expected to be put under house arrest based on past practice of sentences involving women because of the lack of facilities for female prisoners at Majuro jail.
