A Liaoning province official was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for embezzling public funds from the city's toilet renovation project.

Yan Yucheng, former vice-director of Xinmin's Patriotic Health Campaign Committee, was found of embezzling 1.5 million yuan ($244,900) by filing false reports of toilet renovations from 2008 to 2010, Xinhua News Agency reported on Aug 19.

In the falsified reports, the official claimed that the committee renovated 2,159 toilets in the rural area. But the court found that no toilets had been renovated.

The Patriotic Health Campaign Committee is in charge of coordinating the city's health issues, including disease prevention, health education and public environment cleaning.

The Xinmin People's Court ruled on Aug 16 that Yan was guilty of embezzlement. His two companions were also sentenced to prison.