A government official who attracted notoriety for serving endangered pangolin to dinner guests in 2015 has been sentenced to 10 and a half years for corruption, Beijing Youth Daily reported Wednesday.

A court determined that Li Ning, a former high-ranking official at the Guangxi education bureau, had used his position to get certain textbooks used in schools, earning their publisher 4 million yuan ($630,000). In return, Li had received expensive jewelry.

Li became a reviled figure last year when photos of him serving pangolin at a 2015 dinner surfaced on social media. The scaly animals are among the world’s most trafficked because of their perceived medicinal properties. While eating pangolin is illegal in China, the law still permits their scales to be used in traditional medicine. (Image: IC)