Former head of China's 'kung fu' temple sentenced to 24 years, state media reports

BEIJING, May 29 (Reuters) - The former abbot of a Chinese temple famed as the birthplace of ‌kung fu has been sentenced to 24 years ‌in prison and fined 3.5 million yuan ($517,000) for crimes including embezzlement ​and bribery, state media reported on Friday.

Buddhist monk Shi Yongxin, 60, was charged in March this year after being placed under investigation last July.

A court in the central Chinese ‌province of Henan ⁠handed down the sentence, saying Shi had abused his role at Shaolin Temple to embezzle, ⁠misappropriate, and take and give bribes totaling about 300 million yuan over nearly three decades.

Shi pleaded guilty and told ​the ​court he would not appeal, ​state media reported.

Shaolin Temple ‌said last July that its head monk was under joint investigation by multiple agencies for suspected criminal offences including embezzlement and violation of Buddhist precepts by maintaining improper relationships with multiple women over a long period.

Shi's monastic ‌certificate was swiftly revoked by ​the Buddhist Association of China amid ​the investigation. Responding ​to Shi's sentencing in a statement, the ‌association said on Friday that "he ​brought it on ​himself".

Shi, known as Liu Yingcheng before he became a monk in 1981, oversaw the temple since ​1987 and became ‌its abbot in 1999.

(Reporting ​by Shi Bu and Liz Lee; Editing by ​Tomasz Janowski and Helen Popper)