A former vice-president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) will probably stand on trial by March on charges of bribery, according to media reports yesterday.

The 53-year-old Huang Songyou, the highest-ranking judge to be charged with corruption since the founding of the People's Republic of China, has been accused of accepting 4 million yuan ($586,000) in bribes, the Beijing-based China Business Journal reported.

Huang will go on trial by early March at the latest when the country's top legislature, the National People's Congress, convenes its annual session, the paper said, citing unnamed sources familiar with the case.