NAPERVILLE, Ill, USA -- A Naperville man was sentenced Thursday to 7 years in prison for skimming more than $1 million from a project to improve the African nation of Ghana's environment.

Azad Mohideen, 53, of the 1100 block of Bancroft Court was a contract manager for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., Oak Brook.

The firm was awarded a contract in 1995 to assist with the design and implementation of a project to solve severe ocean erosion problems that were destroying towns and threatened the country's freshwater source by constructing a 9-mile protective coastal barrier.

Mohideen is accused of embezzling the money from the company from May 2001 through April.

The firm discovered the thefts in an internal probe, said Assistant DuPage County State's Atty. Ken Tatarelis. Judge Robert Anderson ordered Mohideen to repay the $1,116,981 embezzled. Court records show he has repaid $42,459 as of Thursday.