A former deputy governor of Shandong Province stood trial in neighboring Jiangsu Province Monday on charges of accepting bribes over 13 years, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Prosecutors said during the hearing at the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court that Huang Sheng took bribes of 12.2 million yuan ($1.97 million) from 1998 to 2011 while he was mayor and Party chief of Dezhou, a city in Shandong, and the province's deputy governor.

The court did not hand down a verdict on Monday.

For judicial impartiality, cases involving authorities are generally not heard by courts in the region where they served, Liu Degao, an attorney specializing in criminal cases in Shandong, told the Global Times.

Prosecutors said Huang, 59, took advantage of his power by seeking benefits for others on business operations and job promotions. Bribes he accepted were sourced from 21 businesses and individuals, they added.

Huang, whose career in government began in 1984, was promoted to deputy governor in 2007. In June last year, he was expelled from the Party and fired from his administrative post after an investigation launched by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in November 2011.

Residents in Dezhou spread word of Huang's abuses of power by mockingly dubbing a local government building constructed in 2005 "Huang Building," on account of its shape resembling the Chinese character of his surname.

Senior public posts were illegally sold in Dezhou when Huang was in office, with candidates able to secure the positions of county-level Party secretary for 500,000 yuan and county bureau head for 200,000 yuan, reported the Changjiang Daily.

In return for receiving bribes from local property developers, Huang allowed them to bid for land at lower prices and slashed their administrative fees. He also offered perks to companies in capital lending, according to Beijing-based newspaper Legal Weekly.

Calls to the court in Nanjing went unanswered Tuesday.