The former managing director of Cisco Gold reseller NSC has been sentenced to six months in prison and fined £10,000 after being found guilty of fraud at the Old Bailey last week.

Mohammed Yaseen, who was managing director of NSC until he resigned from the company last month, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to make corrupt payments, contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977.

Peter Turner, current managing director at NSC, said: "The charges against Yaseen date back to 1995, and relate to payments concerning the purchase of computer equipment between two separate companies, Perfect Information and GLP. These companies are completely independent of NSC, and the case has no bearing on Yaseen's involvement with NSC."

According to the court report, seen by Computer Reseller News (CRN), Yaseen admitted making illegal payments on behalf of GLP Technology to Charles Warner-Allen and Jonathan Palmer, agents of Perfect Information, as an inducement or reward for their company placing contracts for computer equipment.

Yaseen founded NSC with two colleagues in 1992. The company became a Cisco Gold partner and Reseller of the Year in April 2000. Yaseen said his actions "had nothing to do with Cisco. It is an issue about my character, and NSC as an organisation should not be affected."

Before sentencing, Yaseen told CRN he was confident the court decision would go in his favour and described his actions as "errors of judgement".

Cisco said it was "inappropriate for us to comment on any of our partners' business". A representative assured all Cisco customers that they would be supported.