OAK BROOK, IL --The project manager on a contract with the government of Ghana to construct a 9-mile protective barrier along the coast, i.e. Keta Sea Defence Project, was in jail Friday, accused of stealing $1.1 million from an international dredging company in Oak Brook.

Bail was set at $1.5 million for Azad Mohideen, 53, on Friday morning, and his passports from Sri Lanka and the United States were seized, according to the DuPage County state's attorney's office.

Mohideen is accused of embezzling the money from Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. from May 2001 through April 2005. He was arrested Thursday evening and charged with one count of theft over $500,000, a felony that carries a mandatory prison sentence of 4 to 15 years.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock discovered the alleged thefts after launching an internal investigation in January, the state's attorney's office said.

He is alleged to have embezzled the money by adjusting the money paid to suppliers.