What’s new: A former chief judge of China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) has pleaded guilty to taking nearly 47 million yuan ($6.6 million) in bribes, a court in North China’s Shanxi province announced.
Zheng Xuelin, former chief judge of the SPC’s No. 1 Civil Adjudication Tribunal, allegedly took advantage of several positions he held at the country’s top court between 2004 and 2022 to help others handle cases and get jobs, receiving 35.29 million yuan in return, the prosecutors said in a Friday statement from Taiyuan Intermediate People’s Court.
The remaining 11.5 million yuan in kickbacks was received after Zheng had retired, when he continued to use the influence gathered from his former roles to assist others in handling case from March to September 2023, according to the court statement.
The background: Zheng, 62, had a decades-long career within the SPC, serving in roles including deputy chief judge of the Case Filing Tribunal, chief judge of the Adjudication Tribunal for Environment and Resources and deputy head of the Second Circuit Court.
In 2019, he was appointed to lead an SPC civil division that handles disputes including over marriage and family, human rights, and labor and property contracts.
Zheng was placed under probe by the country’s top graft busters in September 2023, one year after his retirement. He was expelled from the Communist Party of China in February this year.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
