Hiddink found guilty but escapes jail term

THE HAGUE - FORMER South Korea and Australia coach Guus Hiddink has escaped a prison term after being found guilty of tax fraud.

A court in the Netherlands on Tuesday refused a prosecutor's request for a 10-month jail term.

Instead, the Dutchman was given a 45,000 euro (S$90,800) fine and a six-month suspended sentence.

The court said Hiddink defrauded the tax authorities of 1.4 million euros in 2002 after returning from South Korea, whom he had coached during the 2002 World Cup Finals.

Hiddink claimed at the time that he paid his taxes in neighbouring Belgium. He said he was living there.

The prosecutor, however, said that Hiddink owned only a small apartment in Belgium and did not reside there.

During the trial, the coach denied that he had lived with his girlfriend in Amsterdam.

He said he instead slept in a number of different places - in hotels, at his girlfriend's home, at the training ground of PSV Eindhoven, whom he was also coaching at the time, and sometimes in his car.

His lawyer, Jan Leliveld, said: 'Guus is satisfied that the prosecutor's demand for a jail term was not given. But he regrets that his reputation has been tarnished by this affair.

'The court was unable to determine how much money went supposedly unpaid to the tax authorities. As a result, we will take our time in deciding whether to appeal.'

Hiddink has always denied defrauding the tax authorities.

'I'm an honest man. I want to show that there has been no fraud. This whole affair is all down to administrative errors,' he said a few weeks ago.

Last season, he coached PSV and worked with the Australian team, whom he led to the last 16 of the World Cup Finals.

He is now working with the Russian national team.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE