Two former heads of a government-sponsored research body have been accused of illegally distributing national awards in Beijing, Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.

Beijing No 2 Intermediate People’s Court confirmed that it had accepted the case, saying Shan Shanghua and Zhang Siyou, the two heads of China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, were suspected of privately sharing national awards between 2005 and 2008.

Prosecutors said the two were suspected of allocating awards worth more than 4 million yuan ($643,600) in the name of the institute, Xinhua said, adding Shan got 1.66 million yuan and Zhang got 490,000 yuan.

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