Lou Xiaoping, former deputy president of the Hainan Higher People's Court, was tried Wednesday for taking bribes and failing to elaborate the source of 937,000 yuan (US$113,344) worth of property.

According to the local procuratorate, Lou, taking advantage of his position as the deputy director of the Hainan Legislative Affairs Administration, took bribes of 390,000 yuan from Nanbin Farm in 1997.

In 1996, the Sanya government decided to take back the usage rights of 566 hectares of land formerly used by the city's Nanbin Farm. In January 1997, the farm applied for provincial-level reconsidering procedure. An official with the Hainan provincial Legislative Affairs Administration took the case.

Through the official, the director of the farm asked Lou, then deputy director of administration, to help with the case and got Lou's approval. The procuratorate said Lou later helped the farm to get back the land at the provincial conference to reconsider the case and illegally accepted 390,000 yuan from the farm.

The procuratorate said Lou used the money for buying stocks. In1998, Lou was moved to the position as vice-president of the Hainan Higher People's Court. By then, he had lost 210,000 yuan in the stock market.

In addition, the local procuratorate said Lou had 1.674 million yuan of personal property, including 937,000 yuan which Lou couldn't clarify the source.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2004)