A former Northern Territory ministerial adviser, whose crimes were compared to those of corrupt NSW politician Eddie Obeid, has avoided jail time and has kept a job in the public service.

Paul Mossman was convicted on two counts of corruptly receiving a benefit from Latitude Travel's disgraced director Xana Kamitsis in 2014 while he was chief of staff to then Country Liberals minister Bess Price.

Taxpayers continued to foot the bill for Mossman's salary - in excess of $200,000 - since he was charged and suspended from work in July 2015.

When Ms Price lost last August's election his contract ended, but Mossman is still employed by the Department of Infrastructure and Planning, as revealed by the NT News.

The department wouldn't reveal what Mossman's new pay cheque looked like, but said he could now face "disciplinary action".

Mossman's teenage daughter burst into tears in the NT Supreme Court as Justice Peter Barr sentenced him to a 12-month suspended sentence on Tuesday.

The 44-year-old was facing a maximum penalty of three years' imprisonment.

Crown prosecutor David Morters said Mossman should receive a similar penalty to Obeid, the former Labor powerbroker who has been jailed for a minimum three years for misconduct in public office.

Mossman leaving court in October last year. His lawyers described him as a "courageous, honest man". (AAP)

"We are not talking about a public servant receiving a bottle of wine at Christmas," he said.

Justice Barr flagged a need for general deterrence, but noted Mossman was his daughter's primary carer and jail time would affect this.

Justice Barr said Mossman showed an "undignified eagerness" to ingratiate himself with Ms Kamitsis by offering the travel agent more than $300,000 in exclusive government contracts.

"Corruption is corrosive and ultimately destructive of good governance," Justice Barr said.

Last October a jury found Mossman guilty of having service fees waived and a deferral of full payment for return flights to Sydney with his daughter and to New York with his son in 2014.

Justice Barr lamented that despite Mossman's contribution to the community through a long career in public service and work in former chief minister Adam Giles' office, many will only remember his corruption.

The prosecution also argued Mossman should receive a similar sentence to Kamitsis, who in 2015 got a two-year jail term for a related offence. The sentence was suspended after 19 months.

"It's the Yin and Yang if the same activity... for there to be a briber, there has to be a bribee," Mr Morters said.

But defence lawyer Tom Berkley said Kamitsis was motivated by long-term greed whereas Mossman's crimes were purely opportunistic, calling him a "cleanskin".