The Independent (U.K.)
June 6, 2002

LESOTHO – The former chief executive of a water board has been jailed for 18 years for corruption, making him the first official in the southern African country to be punished for taking bribes from multinational companies.

Masupha Sole, 54, who was at the court in a wheelchair on Tuesday because of injuries received in a car crash, was sentenced to 57 years, of which he will serve 18. Among those accused of bribing Sole with more than pounds 680,000 are companies from the United States, Canada and Europe.

Three – Canada’s Acres International, Germany’s Laymeyer International and France’s Lumez – are being prosecuted in parallel trials. The conviction will ease the way for more cases against contractors, including British companies