SHANGHAI - THE man who helped bring Formula One racing to China was sentenced on Thursday to four years in jail, the latest casualty of a massive Shanghai corruption scandal, state press and a court official said.

Yu Zhifei, 55, was sentenced after being found guilty of embezzling 1.05 million yuan (around S$201,557) in public funds as part of a scheme to buy a home at a reduced price, the Caijing business magazine said.

He also was fined 300,000 yuan, according to the verdict announced by the Intermediate People's Court in Wuhu city in the eastern province of Anhui, it said in a report on its website.

An official at the court confirmed to AFP that the verdict had been handed down on Thursday but refused to give his name or comment any further.

Yu spent seven years as chairman of Shanghai Shenhua Football Club from 1994, during which he allegedly embezzled 800,000 yuan from the club in 1997 and 250,000 yuan in 1999, according to previous reports.

He then moved on to become the chief of Shanghai's F1 track, where he was a major force in bringing F1 racing to China.

Shanghai held its first F1 race in 2004 on the 240-million-dollar state-of-the-art track an hour west of the city centre.

Yu was in charge of the track from 2004 until May last year, when he was officially sacked following his arrest in January.

His arrest was part of major crackdown on corruption that led to the sacking of Shanghai's then-Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu, the highest-level firing of a government official in more than a decade.

Chen, who is awaiting trial, is accused of abusing his power for financial gain, as well as helping his family acquire huge assets through a complex web of illegal business deals.

In the stiffest penalty yet related to the scandal, the chairman of state-run Shanghai Electric, Wang Chengming, was last month given a suspended death sentence for taking bribes.

More than 20 other former government officials and businessmen are expected to be punished. -- AFP