Former chairman of China's Bright Food (Group) Co. Ltd. was sentenced to 18 years in prison Tuesday for embezzlement and accepting bribes.

Wang Zongnan was found guilty of embezzling 195 million yuan (31 million U.S. dollars) between 2000 and 2006 when he was chairman of Shanghai Lianhua Supermarket Holdings Co., according to the Shanghai Municipal No. 2 Intermediate People's Court's verdict. It added that Wang had skimmed off more than 1.2 million yuan of the embezzled funds for himself.

Wang also held the posts of general manager of Shanghai Friendship Group, and president of Shanghai Bailian Group between 1999 and 2006 before becoming chairman of Bright Food, a major dairy producer.

He also accepted 2.69 million yuan in bribes and had used the purchase of two villas to hide the money trail, the court said.

In 2003, Wang's parents bought two villas in Shanghai for 2.08 million yuan, 2.69 million yuan below the market price. The sellers were associated to a subsidiary of a company that had owed Wang a favor, according to the verdict. Wang sold the two villas in 2010 and 2013 for 14.8 million yuan in total.

In the ruling, the court ordered that 1 million yuan of Wang's personal property be confiscated and more than 12 million yuan in bribes and illegal earnings be returned. Endit

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