SHANGHAI, Jan 8, 2008 (AFP) - Shanghai´s former Formula One racing chief plans to appeal his conviction on embezzlement charges, state media quoted his lawyer as saying.

Yu Zhifei, who helped bring Formula One racing to China, was sentenced last week to four years in jail, becoming the latest casualty of a massive Shanghai corruption scandal.

His lawyer, Zhang Tiefeng, said Yu would appeal in the next few days, Xinhua news agency said in a report late on Monday.

Yu, 55, was found guilty of embezzling 1.05 million yuan (around 140,000 dollars) in public funds as part of a scheme to buy a home at a reduced price, state media and a court official said last week.

Yu also was fined 300,000 yuan by the Intermediate People´s Court in Wuhu city in the eastern province of Anhui, according to reports.

Yu allegedly embezzled from the Shanghai Shenhua Football Club in the late 1990s, when he was club chairman, according to previous reports.

He then moved on to become the chief of Shanghai´s F1 track, where he was a major force in bringing F1 racing to China.

Shanghai held its first F1 race in 2004 on the 240-million-dollar state-of-the-art track an hour west of the city centre.

Yu was in charge of the track from 2004 until May last year, when he was officially sacked following his arrest in January.

His arrest was part of major corruption scandal that led to the sacking of Shanghai´s then-Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu, the highest-level firing of a government official in more than a decade.

More than 20 other former government officials and businessmen are expected to be punished.