GUANGZHOU, May 19 -- A police official in south China's Guangdong Province stood trial Tuesday suspected of accepting bribes and shielding prostitution.

According to the procuratorate, Zou Wenqiang, former political commissar of the provincial public security bureau, accepted bribes of over 1.97 million yuan (about 300,000 U.S.dollars) from 2005 to 2014 to shield prostitution in several hotels in Dongguan City.

China launched a clean up campaign after a media exposure of the sex trade in the city in 2014. Dongguan has a reputation as a center of the illegal sex trade.

Zou defended himself in the court, saying that he did not take so much money. He asked for a leniency as he had turned himself in and had returned part of the money.

A verdict will be delivered at a later date.