HONG KONG, Dec. 23 -- Hong Kong's former chief secretary Rafael Hui was sentenced by the High Court on Tuesday to seven-and-a-half years for corruption and misconduct convictions.

Hui was ordered to pay the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) a fine of 11.182 million HK dollars ( about 1.437 million U.S. dollars).

Hui was convicted of five counts of misconduct and corruption, making him the highest-ranking official in Hong Kong's history found guilty of taking bribes.

Each count carries a maximum prison term of seven years, as well as a fine.

The judge said the ruling was made after considering mitigation arguments in court on Monday, including a plea of leniency from former chief executive Donald Tsang, for his ex-right-hand man.

Former vice-chancellor of the University of Hong Kong Tsui Lap- chee also wrote to the court, setting out many of Hui's contributions to the society.

Sun Hung Kai Properties tycoon Thomas Kwok, 63, was jailed for five years and fined 500,000 HK dollars as he was found guilty of paying Hui 8.5 million HK dollars in bribes.

Another two middlemen involved in the scandal - Thomas Chan was sentenced to six years' imprisonment and Francis Kwan five years.

Hui, born in 1948, is a former Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong and a former career civil servant. He was arrested in March 2012 by the Independent Commission Against Corruption on suspicion of corruption.

The trial of Hui and Kwok, which opened in early June, has been seen the most high-profile corruption trial in the history of the Hong Kong SAR.