A Chinese court sentenced Kang Rixin, a former head of Chinese nuclear giant China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), to life imprisonment Friday for corruption and accepting almost one million U.S. dollars in bribes.

Kang Rixin

Kang, CNNC's former general manager, was also deprived of his political rights for life and had his personal assets confiscated, a statement from the Beijing No.1 intermediary court said.

Kang, 57, was convicted of having abused his power to enable others to profit.

He accepted bribes totaling 6.6 million yuan (970,000 U.S. dollars) between 2004 and 2009.

The sentence was lighter because Kang cooperated with investigators and returned all his ill-gotten gains.

Kang became a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in October 2007.

He was stripped of his post in and membership of the CPC for "serious violations of the law and discipline breaches" in December 2009.