Muenster, Germany  - A German court imprisoned a former national treasurer of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) on Friday for two years and eight months for fraud.

Erwin Kemna, 57, admitted he had moved the anti-foreigner party's money into his own accounts.

The party, which receives large government grants under a law that allows a bounty for every vote won, has been criticized for bad supervision of its finances. The NDP has legislative seats in two of the 16 German states but no representation at federal level.

German authorities have discussed ways to stop the grants to the NPD, the party which is supported by many neo-Nazis. Federal parliamentary officials fined the NPD
870,000 euros (1.2 million dollars) last year for financial irregularities.

At a court in the northern city of Muenster, Kemna admitted 80 counts of fraud involving 741,000 euros. He has been in pre-trial custody for seven months.

Prosecutors said he "broke every rule of accounting" when he moved the money to personal accounts or those of his company which installed fitted kitchens in homes. The company has since collapsed.

NPD general secretary Peter Marx said he hoped some of the lost funds could be recovered from Kemna. Marx said he expected Kemna to resign from the party, which he had joined in 1974, or expulsion proceedings would start against him.

During an inquiry, NPD leader Udo Voigt told German police he had not had a full view of party financial records during Kemna's tenure. (dpa)