ULAN BATOR, Aug 3: A court in Mongolia has jailed former president Nambar Enkhbayar for four years after finding him guilty of corruption charges that he has called politically motivated.

Enkhbayar, 54, served as prime minister and then president for almost a decade until losing office in 2009. He was arrested in April in a dawn raid broadcast live on national television.

On Thursday, a Mongolian court found him guilty of misappropriating gifts intended for a monastery and illegally privatising a hotel along with other corruption charges, in a hearing broadcast to the nation.

The court originally sentenced him to seven years, but reduced it by three years, citing an amnesty law.

Enkhbayar, who was barred from running in Mongolia's June parliamentary elections, called the charges “groundless”.—AFP