MUNICH, May 13: The former head of the company building a new World Cup soccer stadium in Munich was sentenced on Friday to 4-1/2 years in jail for taking a bribe. Karl-Heinz Wildmoser was dismissed from the project to build the 286 million euro ($367.4 million) Allianz Arena last year.

This followed accusations that he had taken an illegal 2.8 million euro payment from Austrian builder Alpine for inside information about the contract bidding process.

A Munich court on Friday found Wildmoser guilty of corruption and betrayal of confidence.

The affair was an embarrassment for Germany’s World Cup organising committee, although there was never any suggestion of wrongdoing on their part.—Reuters