Former court president accused of taking bribe

Sui Mingshan, 63, former president of the intermediate court of Zaozhuang, Shandong province, is accused of accepting a bribe of 200,000 yuan ($33,000) in a real estate property dispute between a divorced couple in 2010.

Another judge in the case, Sun Yi, allegedly demanded a bribe of 100,000 yuan but settled for 20,000 yuan, according to local media reports.

He Aihua, the divorced woman, published the claim via the Internet and express delivery to several government departments, including the Central Discipline Inspection Commission, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

The woman said that she gave money to the two officials to secure a Beijing house, which should have been in her name based on her divorce agreement. But the court denied the request, allegedly because of her ex-husband's connection in the court. According to He, Sui and Sun took the bribe from a middleman but did not keep their promise.

After many failed attempts, He decided to make the matter public to prevent the house from being seized and sold in public auction.

"Bribery officials will put me in jail for a couple of years," said He, who said she is ready to face the consequences of admitting bribery. "But what other choice do I have?" she added.

The higher court of Shandong reportedly said that the Zaozhuang intermediate court should be in charge of the investigation, as Sui was working there when the incident happened. The intermediate court assigned a team to look into the matter and planned to send discipline inspection officials to talk to He, according to their news office.

Sui, Sun and He's former husband did not respond to requests for comment.