Zhou Benshun, former Party chief of northern China's Hebei Province, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption, a court in southeast China's Xiamen city said Wednesday.

According to Xiamen Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Zhou's personal assets, worth 2 million yuan (291,545 U.S. dollars), will be seized, along with other illegal gains and property.

The court found that Zhou took advantage of his official posts from 2000 to 2015 to seek benefit for others in real estate development, project payments, fire control project approval, bank loans and personnel promotions.

He accepted bribes of over 40 million yuan directly for himself or through his family.

The court decideded to hand down a lighter penalty to Zhou as he confessed to his crimes, expressed remorse and cooperated in returning the bribes.

Zhou said he would not appeal.