A former official in Central China's Henan province has been sentenced to life imprisonment for taking bribes, owning a huge amount of property from unidentified sources and abusing his power, Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.

Chen Jianghe, former deputy secretary-general of the provincial Party committee, received the life sentence from the intermediate people's court in the province's Nanyang city.

The court said Chen made use of his position between 1995 and 2011 to take more than 7.26 million yuan ($1.19 million) in bribes from 39 people, and accepted five watches and shopping cards worth 91,000 yuan.

By August 2011, Chen had not provided clear sources of his 2.53-million-yuan properties, and also used fake certificates to buy nine houses, worth about 1.93 million yuan in total, for his mistress, family members and friends, the court said.

Chen said he will appeal to a higher court, the report added.