HARBIN -- Gu Chunli, former vice governor of Northeast China's Jilin province, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday for taking bribes at a court in neighboring Heilongjiang province.

Personal assets worth 2 million yuan (around $290,000) belonging to Gu were confiscated, and his illegal gains shall be recovered and turned over to the state treasury, according to a statement by the Harbin City Intermediate People's Court in Heilongjiang.