A township finance official in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for embezzling 1.28 million yuan (about 188,000 U.S. dollars) in the past three years, part of which for buying drugs.

According to the court with the Xiushan Tujia and Miao Autonomous County in Chongqing Municipality, Xu Bin, 37, was appointed director of the Lanqiao Township Finance Office five years ago.

He and his wife divorced shortly after that. He then became addicted to drug in August, 2005 in a karaoke bar, incited by a group of friends.

From 2005 to 2008, Xu embezzled a total of 1.28 million yuan and used800,000 yuan of it to buy drugs.

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2009)