A funeral home manager in southern Guangdong Province was sentenced to eight years in prison for taking bribes and embezzling 13.52 million yuan (US$2.06 million) of public money.

Zeng Haichao, the manager of a funeral home in Foshan City, was also fined 40,000 yuan and ordered to return all his illegally gains, Guangzhou Daily reported today.

The funeral home was also fined 200,000 yuan for splitting the 13.52 million yuan embezzlement among its staff. Zeng pocketed 281,960 yuan of the total.

The court said Zeng took 875,000 yuan in kickbacks from flower and ash urn suppliers between 2002 and 2009.