Sevilla president given seven-year jail sentence

The President of Spanish BBVA Primera Liga football club Sevilla was has been condemned to serve seven years in prison for fraud.

Spain's Supreme Court ratified the sentence, which was originally passed by the provincial court in Malaga, after considering that Del Nido, along with former Marbella mayor Julio Munoz, were responsible for siphoning off public money from the Marbella town hall in what is known as the 'Caso Minutas' between 1999 and 2003, reports Xinhua.

The finding is definitive and will oblige Del Nido, who was the former lawyer of former Marbella mayor and Atletico Madrid president Jesus Gil, to abandon his position at the head of Sevilla FC.

Del Nido had been accused of presenting 79 irregular bills and four false payments to a total of 2.86 million Euros.

The Supreme Court considers that all of the agreements Del Nido had with Gil and Munoz, who has also been handed seven-year sentence, were "uniquely and exclusively directed to the aim of robbing money, which it managed to do".

Del Nido is expected to leave his post Monday to be replaced by his current vice president Pepe Castro.

He becomes the third Spanish football club president to be sent to jail for fraud, following Gil, who died in 2004, and former Rayo Vallecano president, Jose Maria Ruiz de Mateos.