The Yunnan Higher People's Court in the provincial capital, Kunming, handed down the sentence on Chu Shijian more than three years after he was detained in secret circumstances.

Chu, who was chairman and president of the Hongta (Group) Co. Ltd, was said to have owned huge amoutns of property "without clear sources".

The official media only began to lift the veil on his whereabouts in 1997, reporting his formal arrest on July 10, expulsion from the Communist Party and charges that he embezzled billions of yuan in public funds.

The court also sentenced former Hongta Chief Accountant Luo Yijun to 14 years' imprisonment and former Vice-President Qiao Fake to five years, state-run television said.

The three were accused of embezzling a total of US$3.55m.

Death sentence

Under Chinese law, Chu should have been executed for the seriousness of his role in the scandal, according to media reports, but the sentence was more lenient because he had cooperated fully and volunteered information to police.

All the embezzled funds had now been recovered, the reports said.

Chu's is not the first heavy sentence handed down for graft connected with Hongta, which means Red Pagoda in Chinese.

A Beijing court on 6 November imposed the death sentence on a State Development Planning Commission official for extorting more than one million yuan (US$125,000) from Hongta during February and March 1995, Xinhua said.

Chu's sentencing comes as China's leadership launches a nationwide crackdown on graft at the highest level, with the arrest of two top anti-smuggling officials on suspicion of corruption.

Sun Maobeng, former governor of the Ningbo city branch of the People's Bank of China, was handed a suspended death sentence for bribery by a court in southeastern Zhejiang province, state radio said on Saturday.