Podgorica (Montenegro) (AFP) - Svetozar Marovic, a former head of state and close ally of Montenegro's strongman, has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for corruption, a court in Pogorica announced Tuesday.

Marovic, 61, who served as president of Serbia and Montenegro from 2003 to 2006 before the state split in two, was handed a 46-month term after he agreed to a deal with prosecutors.

He immediately stepped down from a powerful position in national politics.

Marovic was accused of involvement in suspicious land purchases and construction deals in the coastal resort of Budva, a top tourist spot, for a company belonging to his son.

"The accused has confessed to his crime," the court said in a statement.

Marovic must also pay a fine of 1.1 million euros ($1.2 million) and donate 100,000 euros to charity, it added.

Marovic's son Milos. his brother Dragan and sister-in-law Mirjana have also been arrested in connection with the same affair.

His daughter Milena and four other members of his family are under investigation.

Following his sentencing, Marovic, long time considered the ruling party's main ideologue, resigned his position as director of the political council in Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists.

The party has ruled the Balkan country for more than 25 years.

Serbia and Montenegro were the last two republics to remain allied after the bloody break-up of communist Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

Marovic was the only president of their short-lived union until 2006, when Montenegro proclaimed independence