Wei Guangming, former education head of Fengqiu County in central China, one of China's poorest counties, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for 1.647 million yuan (198,433 US dollars) of illegal income.

The verdict was made by Xinxiang Municipal Intermediate People's Court Monday.

When soliciting a contractor of a printing plant, Wei accepted 80,000 yuan (9,639 US dollars) in bribes from the contractor surnamed Li, according to the court.

He was also charged to have misused his financial power and stole 280,700 yuan (33,819 US dollars) by creating fake invoices or asking others to create them for him.

Wei also could not account for 1.287 million yuan (155,024 US dollars) of his money, according to the court.

Source: Xinhua