Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN) -- South Africa's former national police chief, Jackie Selebi, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison after he was found guilty of corruption charges last month.
"You are an embarrassment to the police force ... you are an embarrassment to the country," Judge Meyer Joffe said after the sentence was handed down.
"I am satisfied that a sentence of 15 years imprisonment is appropriate in the matter," the judge added, according to the South African Press Association.
The charges stemmed from Selebi's relationship with convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti -- a friendship that was no secret. Once asked about it at a news conference, Selebi famously said, "He's my friend. Finished and klaar" -- an Afrikaans term meaning "that's the end of it".
After a 4 1/2-year trial, the court found Selebi gave favors to Agliotti in exchange for money and expensive clothes. Joffe rejected Selebi's defense that there had been a conspiracy against him, although he acquitted the former police chief on a charge of defeating the ends of justice, according to SAPA.
CNN
