OAKLAND, Calif. - A former employee of California-based Kaiser Permanente has been sentenced to 33 months in prison following his conviction in a scheme that defrauded the health care giant out of $1.8 million.

Federal prosecutors say 40-year-old Asim Waqar of Windsor, Ont. was sentenced on Wednesday.

Waqar was accused of funneling the $1.8 million from Kaiser to the wife of his college friend over three years starting in 2005, when Waqar was a manager for Kaiser in Oakland.

Prosecutors say he encouraged Kaiser to hire the friend's wife, 38-year-old Minda Kuhl, and then arranged for her to be paid without having to do any work.

In exchange, Kuhl and her husband, 44-year-old Farid Rahman also both from Windsor, returned hundreds of thousands of dollars as kickbacks to Waqar.

Waqar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and tax evasion.

Kuhl and Rahman have also pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

All three defendants have been ordered to pay restitution.

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