Wang Yilin, former chairman of the China National Petroleum Corporation, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for accepting bribes worth more than 35.01 million yuan ($4.86 million), a court in Inner Mongolia autonomous region announced on Tuesday.

Wang was also fined 3 million yuan and his illicit gains and relevant interests will be confiscated and turned over to the national treasury, according to the ruling made by the Erdos Intermediate People's Court.

After an investigation, the court found that from 1996 to 2020, Wang abused the various positions he held in the country's petroleum sector to seek benefits for others in various matters, such as work promotions, project contracting and business operations, and illegally accepted bribes worth over 35.01 million yuan in return.

The court ruled that Wang's behavior constituted the crime of bribe-taking and should be harshly punished due to the "extremely large" sums involved.

"Considering that he confessed to the offense, voluntarily disclosed some additional bribes unknown to investigations and returned all illicit gains that have since been recovered, we've leniently penalized him," the court added.

Wang, 68, a native of Jiangsu province, had worked for the petroleum system for decades. In February 2024, he was investigated for suspected serious violations of Party discipline and national laws. In July, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China.

He was prosecuted for suspected bribery in November, and early this year, his case was publicly heard at the Erdos court.