Former Shanghai property tycoon Zhou Zhengyi was sentenced to 16 years in jail Monday in a final ruling of the Shanghai Municipal Higher People's Court.

The court also rejected the appeal of Zhou's company, the Shanghai-based property firm Nongkai Development Group.

The ruling by the lower court was based on reliable and sufficient evidences. The facts were clear. The right laws were applied. The penalties were proper and the trial process were legal, the Higher People's Court said in its ruling.

Zhou was found guilty on five charges that included misappropriation of funds, bribery and forging value-added tax (VAT) receipts by the Shanghai Municipal No. 2 Intermediate People's Court on November 30.

His company was fined 3.35 million yuan by the same court for being guilty of bribing government and corporate staff and forging VAT invoices.

Zhou and his company appealed against the verdict to the Higher People's Court in December.

The appeal cited a lack of evidence and no basis in law for the charges of misappropriation of funds, bribery and forging value-added tax (VAT) receipts.

It said that neither Zhou nor his company had illegal earnings, and the lower court judges failed to fully take into consideration his testimony against others involved in criminal activities.

Zhou and his company were convicted of giving officials at the Shanghai Futures Exchange and banks a total of 1.67 million yuan in bribes in the November trial.

The court also found that he and his company were guilty of forging 8,435 VAT receipts, involving 1.2 billion yuan in taxes.

Zhou was also convicted of bribing a prison official with 200,000 yuan for special treatment during an earlier prison term. In addition, Zhou was found guilty of embezzling 200 million yuan from another company.

(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2008)