An Australian businessman was sentenced Tuesday by a Chinese court to 13 years imprisonment for bribery and embezzlement.

The sentence of the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court on Matthew Ng shocked his wife in Australia, Nikki Chow, his lawyers and Australian officials and journalists observing the trial at the Guangzhou courtroom.

Judge He Chunzhu also sentenced Zheng Hong, chairman of the travel service firm Et-China founded by Ng, to 16 years in prison, and Kitty Yang, the company's chief financial officer, to 3-1/2 years in prison for similar charges. The verdict was announced in the absence of the three and their lawyers.

Ng, Zheng and Yang said they will appeal the decision.

The accusations against the three stemmed from their refusal to sell the London-listed Et-China to its joint venture partner Guangzhou Lingnan, the largest company owned by the Guangzhou municipal government, at a lower price.

Ng, the chief executive of the company, was detained in November 2010 on allegations of misappropriation of company funds, false registration of company capital, work unit bribery and embezzlement after he and other shareholders had contracted to a Swiss firm to buy the firm for $100 million, according to his lawyer, Chen Youxi.

Zheng and Yang were also detained by the Communist Party under its own extralegal power called shuanggui.

Meanwhile, Ng's wife is at a loss on how to support their four children.

''I'm having financial difficulties, I've had no income for more than a year now, I have a high mortgage and I need to support my children,'' Chow said, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

Matthew Ng, chief executive of Et-China.