Zhou Zhenhong, a former head of the United Front Work Department of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Friday for taking bribes and owning a huge amount of property from unidentified sources.

He was also deprived of his political rights for life and had all his personal property confiscated, in the first instance sentence handed down by the Intermediate People's Court of Xinyang in Henan province and cited in a statement at the website of the Henan High People's Court.

Zhou received more than 24.64 million yuan ($4 million) from 33 people between 2002 and 2011 when he was Party chief of Maoming in Guangdong and head of the United Front Work Department of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee.

In return, Zhou offered help in officials' promotions, the operation of companies and the election of members of the local committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Zhou would not identify the sources of his property worth 37 million yuan.

All the illegally obtained money has been retrieved.