Top ex-judge charged with taking US$586,000 bribe

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Huang Songyou [File Photo: sohu.com]

Huang Songyou, former vice president of China's Supreme People's Court (SPC), will stand trial in the near future on charges of accepting an approximate 4-million-yuan ($586,000) bribe, the newspaper China Business reports.

Huang will be the highest-ranking judicial official to be tried for graft since 1949 when the country was founded. Procuratorators have accused Huang of abusing his power to enable profit for concerned people for a "huge amount" of bribes in return and leading a "corrupt and lavish" life.

The first instance trial is likely to be held in March before the annual plenary sessions of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference ( CPPCC), the top political advisory body.

Huang was stripped of his membership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for corruption and dismissed from all his official positions in October 2008.