MAPUTO (AFP) – Mozambique's former transport minister was on Saturday sentenced to 20 years in prison for stealing state funds, the highest-level corruption conviction ever in the southern African country.

Antonio Munguambe, transport and communications minister from 2005 to 2008, was found guilty of acting as an accomplice in the embezzlement of 1.7 million dollars (1.25 million euros) from national airport company Airports of Mozambique.

His co-defendants in the case -- the company's former chief executive, its ex-finance director, Munguambe's former chief of staff and the head of an airport catering company -- also received sentences of between two and 22 years.

Judge Dimas Marroa's verdict chastised the defendants for stealing state funds in a country so poor it depends on foreign aid for more than half its government budget.

"These situations are unacceptable in a country where a large percentage of the population lives in absolute poverty and the discourse of the day is the reduction or elimination of that lamentable situation," Marroa said.

He ordered the defendants to pay three million dollars in damages to the airports company.

Munguambe's lawyer, Abdul Gani, said he planned to appeal the decision to the supreme court.

"This decision is a perfect exaggeration. It doesn't correspond in any way to the evidence produced here," he told reporters.

The defendants were found guilty of using public funds to pay for luxury houses, cars and gifts to family members in a scheme that filtered money through an airport catering company to cover up its destination.

The case has received extensive media attention since Munguambe was arrested in October 2008. Saturday's sentencing was broadcast live on national television.

This is the first ministerial-level prosecution in Mozambique, a country that ranks in the bottom third of watchdog group Transparency International's graft index.