Chinese military latest target in growing crackdown on corruption

Former People's Liberation Army general Gu Junshan has been charged with corruption, the Xinhua news agency reported, as China's wide-ranging crackdown on corruption spreads to the military.

Mr Gu, formerly deputy head of the general logistics department of the PLA, was charged with embezzlement, bribery, misuse of state funds and abuse of power by the military procuratorate.

He is believed to have sold hundreds of military promotions, earning millions of euro in the process. Caixin magazine reported this year that investigators found evidence of a luxurious lifestyle when investigating his villa in Henan, in which they found a solid gold statue of chairman Mao Zedong.

Mr Gu is also accused of using his position to help his brother Gu Xianjun’s business. Gu Xianjun was arrested in August for bribery.

Xinhua reported separately that military anti-corruption teams had uncovered a “number of important issues” in housing sales, land transfers and the appointments of cadres.

President Xi Jinping has made a crackdown on graft part of the central plank of his government, pledging to tackle the problem from the powerful elite to those at the bottom end of the Communist Party.

So far the crackdown has netted some big fish. The biggest is Bo Xilai, the former party boss in Dalian and Chongqing who was purged in 2012 and is serving a life sentence for corruption and abuse of power.

Last July, former railways minister Liu Zhijun was given a suspended death sentence for corruption and abuse of power. He was accused of accepting bribes of more than 64 million yuan (€7.5 million) over 25 years. In China, a suspended death sentence usually implies life in prison.

The news of charging of Mr Gu came as the Communist Party announced its third round of “nationwide discipline inspections to uncover corruption, and check on implementation of socialist democracy and other policies”, Xinhua reported.

It is possible Mr Gu's case may not be heard in public because it may involve production and procurement of logistics equipment in the army, which belong to military secrets, said Mr Yu.

The investigation into corrupt officials has spread to include Zhou Yongkang, the former national security chief who ruled over the police and other law enforcement agencies for nearly a decade.

An investigation into a Politburo Standing Committee member – retired or sitting – is extremely rare and none has been investigated for economic crimes since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976.