Cai Bin, who became known as "Uncle House" after a whistle-blower claimed he owned 22 houses, was sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison for taking bribes on Thursday.

The Haizhu District People's Court in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, convicted Cai, 57, a former urban management official with Guangzhou's Panyu district, of accepting bribes totaling 2.75 million yuan ($446,000) from 1993 to 2012.

Money equal to the amount of the bribes as well as personal property of 600,000 yuan were confiscated. Cai was dismissed from his post in October 2012 after civic-minded Net users highlighted his properties on the Internet.

Xinhua