WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – A man from the US state of Maryland pleaded guilty to making a false claim, after he stole funds allocated by the US government to educational reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
“Oyetayo Fagbenro, 62, of Ellicott City, Maryland, pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false claim,” the statement on Friday.
The Justice Department said the defendant was awarded three US grants to build media centers at Afghan universities and in 2010-2012 received approximately $6.9 million in advances for part of the work on the projects.
Fagbenro admitted that he sent approximately $1.38 million from Afghan accounts funded by the State Department to persons he knew and entities he controlled in the US and other countries, all outside of Afghanistan. About $775,000 of these funds went to “relatives, friends, and corporate entities” with no connection to the grants.
The US District Court for the District of Columbia scheduled sentencing for February 12, 2021.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
