A former official with the American Samoan Department of Education has been sentenced to 25 months in jail for his role in a bribery scam.
47-year-old Gustav Nauer was sentenced by an Hawaii court to also pay 100,000 US dollars in restitution to the American Samoa Department of Education.
Nauer worked as the head of the School Bus Division for the Department and was responsible for identifying repairs and parts required by the buses.
He admitted conspiring with another staff member, Paul Solofa, to purchase so-called phantom parts that would never be delivered and actual parts at inflated prices, all from the one company.
In exchange, the bus parts company agreed to pay back most or all of the fraudulently obtained money to Nauer and Solofa in bribes.
Nauer admitted that from January 2003 until October 2006, he and Solofa received envelopes of cash containing about 300,000 dollars.
