Jakarta- An Indonesian court on Thursday jailed a man who falsely claimed to have invented a technology to turn water into fuel in a scandal that embarrassed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Judges in Bantul district in Yogyakarta province found Djoko Suprapto guilty of defrauding a university of 1.3 billion rupiah (115,700 dollars) in research funds and sentenced him to three-and-a half years, said Joko Sutrisno, the court's administrative chief.

The court official said the defendant would appeal the verdict.

In 2007 Djoko claimed that he had discovered a method to extract hydrogen from ordinary water to power engines.

The Jogjakarta Muhammadiyah University agreed to give Djoko 1.3 billion rupiah to finance the research.

President Yudhoyono, eager for alternative sources of energy amid soaring global oil prices, also embraced Djoko's claims.

Yudhoyono allocated 10 billion rupiah to build a research center near his home and appointed a special adviser, Heru Lelono, to head the project.

Djoko's purported discovery, dubbed Blue Energy by Yudhoyono, was exhibited at the UN climate change conference in the resort island of Bali in 2007 in an event attended by the president.

For months there was no news about the alternative energy project until Djoko disappeared in April.

Djoko was later arrested and he admitted that he did not have the knowledge or means to turn water into fuel.

The parliament strongly criticized Yudhoyono for being taken in by the false claims. (dpa)