Hong Jinzhou, a former mayor of Kaili in southwest China's Guizhou province, accepted bribes totaling more than 39 million yuan. Nor is he able to account for the sources of the properties he acquired between 1997 and 2013 worth more than 31 million yuan.

Hong was accused of accepting huge bribes and holding huge properties with unidentified sources, according to the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court, while holding posts such as deputy head of Qiandongnan prefectural government.

From 2006 Hong Jinzhou began handing in bribe money to the government in the presence of and documented by government officials to make himself appear "a man of integrity". By 2013 Hong had turned in more than 55 million yuan.

However, Hong confessed his true intention in an interview with reporters. While becoming ever more scared as mayor of Kaili for accepting ever more money in illegal bribes, he was at the same time attempting to absolve himself of any suspicion.

Hong confessed to the investigators that when he turned in the bribe money, he had deliberately confused the government officials by not making clear the source of bribes.

In that way, he wished to mislead investigators into believing he had already turned in all the bribe money.

The court saw a heated debate centered around how to view the sums of money Hong turned in. The public prosecutors hold that the large sums of money are also involved in the case against Hong as his behavior was cloaked in his intention of receiving further bribe money. The defenders state otherwise.

The investigators discovered 20 million yuan in the basement of the house of his parents-in-law in Zhenyuan county, Guizhou province. Hong said in an interview that he stored this sum of money in the basement in May 2013.