As the high-profile trial of the most senior cadre snared in Chongqing's crackdown on gangsters continues, further details of the former justice chief's decadent lifestyle have been revealed in court.
Former Chongqing Justice Bureau head Wen Qiang, 55, who has been on trial at a local court since Wednesday, has been accused of covering up organised crime, taking about 16 million yuan (HK$18.17 million) in bribes from gangs he protected and being unable to explain the source of another 10 million yuan.
Wen, a deputy police chief of Chongqing for 17 years before his arrest in August, is also charged with raping a university student in 2007 and 2008.
The prosecution said Wen's family's assets had mysteriously jumped from 370,000 yuan in 1992 when he took over as deputy police chief to nearly 31 million last year, China News Service reported yesterday.
But Wen claimed a large part of his savings had come from performance-related bonuses for successful crackdowns in many high-profile triad cases over the years.
The prosecution accused Wen of spending 120,000 yuan on prostitution while deputy police chief. The news agency said he denied the allegation, telling the court: 'Whether it was prostitution, rape or just personal behaviour, this should be determined by the court. I won't comment.'
Wen had earlier confessed to a Communist Party disciplinary committee that he had forced under-age girls to have sex with him, according to a Yangtze Evening News report last year. And whenever Wen set his eyes on an actress or singer visiting Chongqing, he would use every means to sleep with her, including money and blackmail, the report said.