Dangshan county land bureau official Liu Jianghui

His former wife and their 17-year-old son spent eight days holed up in his office after he left them for a mistress in February.

Refusing to leave, they physically tied themselves to the safe-deposit box there, claiming it contained graft proceeds and insisting that anti-corruption officials open the box in their presence.

Liu has since been arrested on charges of accepting bribes.

China Securities Regulatory Commission official Li Li

In March, she faced allegations of insider trading after her husband revealed, online and to the media, that she leaked to her mother the annual results of a listed company one day before their official announcement.

The two were in the middle of divorce proceedings at the time.

District party chief in Jiangsu's Xuzhou city, Dong Feng

Last year, his wife posted allegations of his corruption on the Internet after letters to the local anti-corruption office evoked no response.

The authorities arrested Dong a week later. He was later sentenced to 13 years in jail.

THE STRAITS TIMES CHINA BUREAU

This article was first published in The Straits Times.