THE father of Steffi Graf was yesterday convicted of evading taxes on her multi million mark earnings and sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. Peter Graf will remain free on bail pending appeal against the verdict of the court in Mannheim, south west Germany.

Steffi Graf, who did not attend the 4 1/2 month trial, was in Australia, preparing to fly to Tokyo for her next tournament, when the verdict was announced by Chief Judge Joachim Plass. The judge made a point of stating that Steffi "played no active part" in the tax evasion and he recommended the investigation against her be dropped.

The former family tax adviser, Joachim Eckardt, a co defendant in the trial, was convicted of attempted tax evasion and being an accessory. He was sentenced to two years, six months in prison. Both the prosecution and defence have a week to file an appeal.

Peter Graf was convicted of evading payment of nearly £7.3 million in taxes on £16 million of his daughter's earnings between 1989 and 1993. He spent 15 months in jail before he was released on £1.7 million bail last November. The family has since paid the back taxes, based on figures determined by investigators and tax authorities.

Graf (58) managed his daughter's career during her rise to the number one ranking in women's tennis, and he handled the earnings from her 20 Grand Slam titles. Chief prosecutor Hubert Job ski had accused Peter Graf of masterminding a "web of lies planned over a long time" to dupe tax authorities.

The defence pleaded for a suspended sentence and fine, portraying their client as a "helpless, lost man, left out in the cold" by tax advisers and sponsors. Graf did not deny that he was using mail box companies in Holland, Liechtenstein and the Dutch Antilles as early as 1987. However, he said tax officials had promised him favourable treatment because Steffi Graf had decided to stay in high tax Germany, unlike many other sports stars.

Tax investigator, had also targeted Steffi, the world number one woman player, whose signature was on all the tax returns. But presiding judge Joachim Plass said that probe should be dropped.

Initially, Graf and Eekardt remain free until the verdict becomes legally binding, which normally happens after one week. But prosecutors said they would lodge an appeal within that time.

A court spokesman said it would then take several months for an appeal to be processed. During that time Graf would remain free.