Three of the five senior judges who were arrested in this southern city will soon face public prosecution, according to the local procuratorate organ.

"The investigations into the three are nearly complete and will soon be transferred to the public prosecution division," a spokesman for the Shenzhen People's Procuratorate told China Daily yesterday.

"It will take a little longer for the investigation section at the public prosecution division to re-examine the case, collect evidence and decide the venue for the hearings (before bringing them to the court)," the spokesman added.

The procuratorate confirmed media reports last Friday that five judges at the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, including a vice-president, had been arrested for corruption.

It started investigating the five judges in early May after receiving tips concerning alleged acts of corruption from local residents.

The investigators said they had found that Liao Zhaohui, a retired judge, had accepted bribes when he was serving as a judge in the execution division.

Two division presidents, Cai Xiaoling and Zhang Tinghua, were also discovered to have looked after personal interests by appointing certain auction houses to deal with seized assets in bankruptcy cases.

Liao was arrested on June 9. Cai was arrested on June 19, and Zhang on June 20.

Meanwhile, Pei Hongquan, vice-president of Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, was arrested on September 28, while Li Huili, Pei's ex-wife and a director of the execution division, was arrested on September 27.

Preliminary evidence collected by the procuratorate organ showed the two suspects had accepted bribes while working.

Investigators reiterated that the suspects' major alleged crimes occurred several years ago, well before the system's internal governance and supervisory functions were well established.

"The division judges were empowered to appoint auction houses to auction off assets in bankruptcy cases. This allowed a few judges to take advantage of the institutional loophole in the pursuit of illegal personal interests," said Bai Xinchao, chief procurator of Shenzhen People's Procuratorate.

He added that the investigations had not affected the operations of the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court.

(China Daily November 15, 2006)