The former vice president of the higher court in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Zhang Tao, has been handed over to judicial organs for allegedly taking huge amounts of bribes, a government spokesman said Thursday.

Wen Tianping, spokesman for the Chongqing government, said a few others including the president of the Chongqing Judges School, Wu Xiaoqing, have also been handed over to judicial organs over bribery.

Zhang Tao, 46, came to work in Chongqing in 1997. He began to serve as the vice president of the Chongqing Municipal Higher People's Court in 2002.

In July, Wen said Zhang and Wu were investigated for suspected "serious disciplinary offences."

(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2009)