Zhu Zhigang, former director of the Commission for Budget Affairs of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery on Monday.

According to the Xinyang Intermediate People's Court, in central Henan Province, Zhu abused his positions to advantage others financially, and took bribes totaling more than 7.44 million yuan (about 1.09 million U.S. dollars) when he served as assistant finance minister and deputy finance minister from January 2000 to March 2008.

The court also deprived Zhu of his political right for life, and confiscated all his assets.

Zhu, 60, was stripped of his membership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in June last year for "severe violation of disciplines and the law."

He was expelled from the NPC in December 2008, two months after the NPC Standing Committee endorsed Zhu's resignation from the positions of NPC Standing Committee member, director of the Commission for Budget Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, and vice chairman of the NPC Financial and Economic Affairs Committee.

Zhu was elected an NPC deputy for northwestern Shaanxi Province in early 2008.