Six former senior officials were convicted of bribery and given sentences ranging from six years to life imprisonment by Chinese courts on Wednesday.

Of the six officials, three were convicted of bribery involving sums in excess of 100 million yuan ($17.6 million) and sentenced to life imprisonment. They were Wang Baoan, former head of the National Bureau of Statistics; Chen Xuefeng, former Party chief in Luoyang, Henan province; and Lu Ziyue, former mayor of Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

The other three, handed sentences ranging from six to 15 years, were Chang Xiaobing, former chairman of China Telecom; Li Chengyun, former vice-governor of Sichuan; and Deng Qilin, former chairman of Wuhan Iron and Steel Corp.