Top court says judicial officers should not profit from lawsuits

China's top court asked disciplinary departments at the grassroots level to play their supervisory role to stop judicial officers from accepting fees for acting as go-betweens in lawsuits.

The disciplinary departments must strictly inspect legal officers, forbidding them from getting money by acting as intermediaries between courts and litigants, under a guideline issued by the Supreme People's Court recently.

Some judicial officers have used lawsuits as a business, asking for payment of commissions after helping litigants establish relations with judges, the top court said.