BERLIN, Aug 9: A German court on Wednesday upheld a 4-1/2 year jail sentence handed down for bribery to the former head of the firm that built a World Cup soccer stadium in Munich, rejecting an appeal against the verdict.

In May 2005, a Munich court found Karl-Heinz Wildmoser junior guilty of corruption and betrayal of confidence for his role in the construction of the 286 million euro ($367 million) Allianz Arena, where the 2006 World Cup kicked off this summer.

Wildmoser's defence team had argued that during the trial the judge had shown bias against their client and that other legal errors were made to his detriment.

However, the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe rejected this, also turning down a separate appeal by state prosecutors, who had sought a harsher jail term against Wildmoser.

Wildmoser was convicted for taking an illegal payment of some 2.8 million euros from Austrian-owned builder Alpine for inside information about the contract bidding process.

He was dismissed from the building project in 2004.—Reuters