Huang Songyou: Deputy chief of Supreme Court to be in prison for life

On March 16, 2010, the Hebei Provincial High Court adjudicated on the corruption case of Huang Songyou, former deputy head of Supreme People’s Court. Huang was sentenced into prison for life. He was the highest-ranked official in judicial organs in China.

Huang, 53, was born in Shantou, Guangdong, has the doctor degree in law. He took the deputy head of Supreme People’s Court in December 2002. In October 2008, he was arrested by the discipline department for investigation. Later he was sacked from his post in Supreme People’s Court. Last October Huang was sent to the anti-corruption department of Supreme People’s Procuratorate for further investigation. On January 14, Huang was officially accused of embezzlement and bribery.

It was said that Huang made use of his rights to help five persons to gain benefits and received bribes of 3.9 million yuan (USD 571.3 thousand). He received the dirty gold from these five persons in five times. The largest bribe came from his schoolmate – Chen Zhuolun.

Chen Zhuolun was a lawyer and once presented a case in which millions of yuan were involved. In order to get what he wanted, he asked Huang Songyou for help. With Huang’s assistance, Chen Zhuolun succeeded in the case and got a huge amount of commission. Then he gave Huang Songyou 3 million yuan (USD 439.5 thousand) to “thank for his help”.

Huang was also accused of another corruption when he was the head of the Intermediate Court of Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province.