BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Chang Xiaobing, former chairman of China Telecom, was sentenced to six years in prison for graft Wednesday.

The sentence was handed down by the Intermediate People's Court of Baoding city in northern China's Hebei Province.

The court also fined Chang 500,000 yuan (around 72,850 U.S. dollars) and ordered his illicit gains to be confiscated.

Chang confessed to his crimes in court.

It found Chang guilty of taking advantage of his positions as a telecom official and chairman of China Unicom to seek benefits for various institutions between 1998 and 2014.

In return, he accepted money and valuables worth more than 3.76 million yuan.

China Unicom and China Telecom are two of China's top three telecom service providers.

The court decided to be lenient as Chang pleaded guilty, expressed remorse, returned his illegal gains and offered information on other crimes.