Hong Kong, Feb 22 (IANS): Hong Kong's former Chief Executive Donald Tsang has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for misconduct.

The 72-year-old was at the helm of Hong Kong's administration from 2005 to 2012 and is the most senior official in the territory ever to stand trial for corruption, BBC reported on Wednesday.

He was found guilty last week of misconduct in public office, in a case related to a luxury flat in China.

"Never in my judicial career have I seen a man fallen from so high," presiding judge Justice Andrew Chan Hing-wai said as Tsang stood in the dock.

A number of senior former officials in Hong Kong had written letters to the court in defence of Tsang's character, according to the report.

The judge said he took Tsang's reputation and long public service into account in sentencing, taking 10 months off what would have been a 30-month sentence. The maximum penalty could have been seven years, according to the report.

Tsang was cleared last week of a second count of misconduct, while the jury failed to reach a verdict on a third charge of accepting an advantage. He is expected to be retried on that charge in September.

There was little emotion on Tsang's face while the sentence was read out in court. After sentencing, he was taken from court in handcuffs to the hospital where he has been staying since experiencing chest pain on Monday.

Prosecutors accused Tsang of inappropriate and undeclared conflicts of interest, including renting a luxury flat in mainland China from the shareholder of a broadcast company whose licence applications he approved.

They also alleged the flat was redecorated free of charge and that he later nominated the interior designer for an honour.

The jury found him guilty of misconduct over his failure to disclose the lease of the flat, but dismissed the charge related to the designer and did not reach a verdict on whether he accepted a bribe in the form of the refurbishment.

A career civil servant, Tsang rose through the ranks to become Hong Kong's second Chief Executive, following Tung Chee-hwa.