SHANGHAI, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The First Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai Wednesday afternoon handed down a jail term of 14 years to Zhou Xiaodi, a former real estate tycoon in the city, for arranging an assault on a business partner and illegally trading land-use right, the court confirmed Thursday morning.

    Zhou was also deprived of political right for two years and fined 300 million yuan (43.99 million U.S. dollars).

    Zhou masterminded the crime and his driver hired other people to assault, on Nov. 6, 2007, one of his business partners for disputes over control of a land plot in Pudong New Area of Shanghai. The victim was seriously injured.

    The local court also handed down different sentences to eight accomplices of Zhou.

    Zhou, 54, founded the Zhou Group in 1992 and has conducted business in real estate and education. He was arrested in December2007 after he was stripped of his Shanghai CPPCC committee membership. He ranked 31st on Hurun list of China charitarians with donations of 24.90 million yuan in 2006.