WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (AFP) - Former Boeing chief financial officer Michael Sears was sentenced Friday to four months in jail and pay a 250,000 dollar fine for his role in a scandal over on air force contract, officials said.
Sears, 57, who acknowledged recruiting a former air force procurement official as part of an effort to win a contract for leasing tanker planes, pleaded guilty last year to "aiding and abetting acts affecting a personal financial interest."
Sears was sentenced in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, by Judge Gerald Lee.
The aiding and abetting charges relate to Sears' contacts with the former Pentagon procurement official, Darleen Druyun, who was involved in the decision to award the controversial tanker contract to Boeing.
Druyun later went to work for the Chicago-based aerospace giant and was negotiating that job at the same time as she was working on the tanker contract, according to US officials.
The company fired both Sears and Druyun went those contacts came to light in late 2003, but the affair has prompted a wide-ranging investigation into contracts awarded to Boeing going back almost a decade.
"Mr. Sears had a clear choice. Instead of respecting the integrity of the government's procurement system, he chose the financial interests of his company over the best interest for America," US Attorney Paul McNulty said in a statement.
Druyun, who was the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition and management, was sentenced last year to nine months in prison.
She helped negotiate the 2002 deal with the Boeing Company to lease 100 Boeing 767 tanker aircraft for the Air Force for more than 20 billion dollars -- a contract described as a "sweetheart" deal for Boeing.
McNulty also announced he is spearheading a "procurement fraud initiative" in an effort to root out fraud or favoritism in government contracts. This group will consist of representatives from several federal agencies including the FBI and the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Transportation.
02/18/2005 17:49 GMT - AFP