Yuan Renguo, the former chairman of Kweichow Moutai Group that produces the high-end Moutai liquor in southwest China's Guizhou Province, has been sentenced to life in prison for taking bribes, said a local court.

The intermediate people's court of Guiyang, capital of Guizhou, pronounced the sentence on Thursday.

Yuan, also a former deputy director of the economic committee of the 12th Guizhou provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), was deprived of political rights for life, and all his personal property was confiscated.

Yuan illegally accepted cash and properties worth more than 112.9 million yuan (about 17.46 million U.S. dollars) when assuming posts at Kweichow Moutai Group from 1994 to 2018, the court said.