Local News in Brief : Aussie Jailed for Bribes
A former Australian government employee was sentenced Friday to 15 months in jail in Melbourne after he admitted taking bribes from a North Hollywood aviation company. The former Australian manager of the firm also was jailed.
Melbourne County Court Judge Mervyn Kimm said Leonard Calder Freeman took bribes of unknown value while working as a purchasing officer at the Australian Federal Government Aircraft Factory in Melbourne.
Freeman, 60, pleaded guilty Thursday to seven counts of taking bribes between 1983 and 1986.
The one-time general manager of North Hollywood-based Citicorp Aviation Industry Resources Inc., Werner Gunther Becker, also pleaded guilty Thursday to seven counts of paying the bribes. Becker, 30, was sentenced to 12 months in jail.
The judge said Freeman was paid 5% of the value of orders for aircraft parts placed with the U.S. firm.
Kimm said Freeman had had a similar agreement with the firm’s previous general manager, who died in 1983. At the man’s funeral, Freeman approached Becker to see if the deal was to continue, the judge said.
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