Yuan Renguo file photo

 Yuan Renguo, former chairman of leading liquor maker Kweichow Moutai Group, was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking bribes, the court announced on Thursday.

Yuan was sentenced to life in prison, deprived of his political rights for life and had all his personal property confiscated, according to the public verdict released by the Intermediate People's Court of Guiyang in Southwest China’s Guizhou Province on Thursday.

The property and the fruits derived from bribes given to Yuan shall be recovered according to the law and turned over to the State Treasury, said the court.

Yuan was found to have seriously violated political discipline, and used his position and power in Moutai as tools to seek political and financial gain, according to a statement published in May 2019. 

Yuan was then expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and dismissed from public office for serious violations of Party disciplinary rules and Chinese laws.

According to the Guiyang court, from 1994 to 2018, Yuan took advantage of his positions as general manager and chairman of Kweichow Moutai to provide help for others in obtaining the rights to Moutai liquor distribution and illegally accepting property from others worth more than 112.9 million yuan ($17.5 million). 

Moutai’s shares closed at 1,635 yuan on Thursday, with the company valued at 2.1 trillion yuan.

The company’s revenue rose 11.68 percent year-on-year to 49.087 billion yuan in the first half of 2021, according to the financial results published in July. Net profit rose 9.08 percent year-on-year to 24.654 billion yuan, equivalent to 270 million yuan in daily earnings and accounting for a quarter of the liquor industry in China.