Official stashed bribes in temple

As mayor of a poor Inner Mongolian city, Xu Guoyuan had a simple way of handling affairs: he would not remember when someone gave him money, and he would not forget when someone didn't.

And as police began to close in on him, Xu began squirreling away money, including stashing a briefcase with 2 million yuan in a temple and hiding the key in the ear of a Buddhist statue, the court heard as his trial for corruption began yesterday.

Xu and his wife, Li Minjie, are accused of accepting bribes of 32 million yuan ($4.6 million) during the six years Xu served as the mayor and vice Party secretary of Chifeng.