A man has been sentenced to 15 years in jail in south China's Guangdong province for processing counterfeit yuan notes with a par value of 6 million yuan (949,367 U.S. dollars) with two other gang members.

The ring leader, surnamed Liu, was given the jail term in the first-instance trial on Wednesday, according to a verdict released by the Dongguan City No. 2 Intermediate People's Court.

He was also ordered to pay fines of 500,000 yuan.

Liu was found guilty of buying semi-finished fake currency notes in 2010 and 2011 with a par value of 6 million yuan and processing the forgeries with two accomplices, who were given jail sentences of six years to 13 years.

Liu made an illegal profit of 50,000 yuan from selling fake yuan notes worth 2 million yuan in par value in 2010, according to the court.

Police confiscated the rest of the notes, which had a par value of 4 million yuan, in two raids in 2011.

It follows a similar case in Dongguan that saw a man sentenced to death in July 2011 for processing counterfeit yuan notes with a par value of 170 million yuan with 15 other gang members.