A Texas oil executive was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for approving the payment of millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's Iraq regime so he could secure large oil shipments through a United Nations program.  

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin also fined David Chalmers $9 million.

He sentenced Chalmers' companies, Bayoil USA and the Bahamas-based Bayoil Supply & Trading Ltd., to three years probation.  

Chalmers pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Without a deal with prosecutors, he could have faced more than 60 years in prison.  "I didn't think through all the consequences at the time and I'm sorry," he said. "In my heart, I should have known it was wrong."  

Chalmers, 54, of Houston told the judge he carried "heavy, heavy guilt."  He said he agreed to begin paying the surcharges after a Baghdad-based representative of his companies told him the Iraqis had demanded it.

Chalmers said he was concerned about the safety of the employee and the employee's family.  

Operating from 1996 to 2003, the oil-for-food program was designed to let the Iraqi government sell oil primarily to buy food and medicine for its citizens.

Sanctions were imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait and brought about the first Gulf War.  

By 2000, authorities said, Saddam Hussein had begun insisting that kickbacks be paid to secure oil contracts.  

Oil Executive Gets Prison For UN Scheme