JAKARTA, Sept 17: The chief of Indonesia’s football association was sentenced to two years in prison for misusing funds in the distribution of staple goods to the poor after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, a judge said on Monday.

The Supreme Court found Nurdin Halid, who was also elected to the Parliament last week, guilty of misusing US$18 million when he was responsible for distributing government-supplied affordable goods such as cooking oil and rice in 1998 as chairman of the Indonesia Trade Cooperative, Judge Andi Samsan Nganro said.

He was sentenced to two years in prison and fined US$3,200 in the ruling on Friday, the judge said.

Halid belongs to Indonesia’s largest political party, Golkar, and is a leading businessman.

Halid was named chairman of Indonesia’s football association in 2003 and led the association from behind bars when he was sentenced to a 2 1/2 year jail term for smuggling 59,100 tons of rice from Vietnam in 2004. He was freed last year, and was re-elected to a second term in internal voting earlier this year.—AP