Huang Guangyu, once the richest man on China's mainland, has filed an appeal against his 14-year jail term for illegal business dealings, bribery and inside trading.

The 41-year-old founder of GOME Electrical Appliances Holdings argues he is not guilty of insider trading and also disputes the charge of illegal business dealings, saying the sentence and fines were too heavy.

Huang also denies that one of his companies, Pengrun, had paid bribes, the Legal Daily reported yesterday.

Huang was sentenced to 14 years and fined 600 million yuan (US$87,86 million) on May 18.

Some 200 million yuan in personal assets were ordered seized by Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court.

He was charged with illegal foreign exchange trading in Hong Kong in 2007 and exploiting insider information to gain 3.48 million yuan in profits from shares in Zhongguancun Co.

He was also accused of giving 4.56 million yuan in bribes to a number of government officials.

Huang's two firms, GOME and Pengrun, were fined 5 million yuan and 1.2 million yuan respectively on charges of corporate bribery.

Also filing appeals were Huang's wife, Du Juan, jailed for 3 1/2 years for insider trading and fined 200 million yuan, and Xu Zhongmin, the boss of Shenzhen-listed Zhongguancun, who was jailed for three years for leaking trading information.

Both believed their sentences were too severe.