A former official in Shanghai was sentenced to life in prison Monday for embezzling state-owned assets and accepting bribes totaling 108.3 million yuan (16.3 million U.S. dollars).

Wang Miaoxing, former Party chief of Changzheng Township in Putuo District, was convicted of transferring 97 million yuan from the Shanghai Xinchangzheng Group into his personal account between 2004 and 2005, according to the verdict from the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court.

During those two years, Wang also served as Chairman of the Shanghai Xinchangzheng Group, owned by the township government.

Additionally, Wang was convicted of taking 6.3 million yuan in bribes from 1998 to 2006 and embezzling 5 million yuan in company assets from 2006 to 2007.

He was also ordered to return all embezzled assets and bribes and an additional one million yuan worth of personal assets were confiscated by authorities.