"A World Bank consultant who raked in £1.7 million in bribes while advising the United Nations on poverty stricken countries has been jailed.
Wassim Tappuni, 64, rigged bidding wars between companies vying for contracts worth £43m to supply medical equipment to hospitals in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Tappuni gave corrupt firms the inside track on what the World Bank was looking for during bidding processes.
He also helped them to discredit rival offers in exchange for huge bribes, which he hid in a secret tax-free Swiss bank account.
Tappuni pulled off the scam from his luxury home in Kingston-upon-Thames, in south-west London, while he was being paid £170,000 a year by the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.
He was convicted of a total of 13 fraud charges on July 25 following a trial at Southwark Crown Court..."