A former mayor in Hunan province who made headlines for drug use has been sentenced to seven years in prison on corruption charges.

Yueyang Intermediate People's Court handed down the verdict on Friday to Gong Weiguo, former mayor of Linxiang, after convicting him of taking bribes and abusing power.

Gong was investigated by police after accusations that he had used drugs in April 2015. Months later, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China and removed from his public post for "serious disciplinary violations", including corruption and drug use.

The court found that Gong accepted bribes worth 1.5 million yuan ($221,400) in return for helping others obtain benefits between 2007 and 2015, when he worked in the cities of Miluo, Yueyang and Linxiang.

Also, he illegally exempted real estate developers from administrative fees, resulting in government losses of nearly 16 million yuan.

In addition to the prison sentence, Gong was fined 300,000 yuan and his illegal gains were confiscated.

Xinhua