Trading U.N. Contracts for a Sweet Midtown Apartment

Federal prosecutors have indicted a United Nations official with bribery, for accepting bribes in return for very favorable real estate offerings. The U.N. Procurement Chief Sanjaya Bahel allegedly helped Nishan Kohli get contracts, and in return, Kohli offered an apartment at the Dag Hammarskjold Towers. From the NY Post:

The indictment alleged Kohli, who has also been charged with bribery, bought the condo in 2003 and rented the $8,600-a-month unit to Bahel and his family for $5,000 a month after they lived there for free for a while.

Two years later, Kohli sold Bahel the place -worth upwards of $2 million - for just under $1.2 million, prosecutors said.

The price for the pad was so rock-bottom that the condo board considered exercising its right of first refusal to block the sale, the indictment charged.

Fox News has apparently been following the scandal for a while, leading other journalists to ask the U.N. if Bahel was under internal investigation (here's a snippy press conference exchange).

The prosecutor said the pair "conspired...to peddle and purchase influence, to pervert the U.N. procurement process for personal profit." Bahel and Kohli are expected to appear in federal court today.