Hubei seeks to remove judge over secret affair

The higher court in central Hubei Province is seeking permission from authorities to remove a judge from office after his secret love affair with a lawyer came to light.

An initial investigation found Zhang Jun, presiding judge of the criminal tribunal in Hubei Higher People.s Court, had maintained improper relations with a woman for a long period of time, local authorities said on Monday.

The investigation was launched after a netizen uploaded footages from a video on Saturday, claiming Zhang paid for sex in a hotel room in the provincial capital Wuhan.

The netizen said the video was taken from a hotel surveillance camera on October 14. The 20-minute footage showed a man and a woman entering the hotel at around 11:10am and leaving at 1:45pm.

The netizen claimed Zhang was a chief judge in Wuhan, but earlier authorities said they did not have any chief judge or deputy called Zhang Jun. But his identity was confirmed by the court on Monday.

The woman was said to be a lawyer. Employees from a local law firm, where she reportedly worked at, confirmed they had a lawyer by the same name as claimed by the netizen. She, however, couldn.t be reached for comment, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The case has attracted attention because the whistleblower initially claimed that it involved prostitution, a scandal similar to the one in Shanghai.

In August, three judges and a discipline official with the city.s top court were removed from their posts by the Shanghai People.s Congress after they were found soliciting services from prostitutes at the Hengshan Resort hotel in the Pudong New Area on June 9.