China jails former top military officer for life in graft case

On Monday, a Chinese military court sentenced Guo Boxiong, a former general who held one of China’s top military positions, to life in prison for corruption.

Guo was also deprived of his political rights for life and stripped of his rank as general. Government investigators recently seized his personal assets, which is said to run into several millions of dollars, and turned them over to the State treasury.

Earlier this June, former top presidential aide and political insider Ling Jihua received a life sentence for accepting bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets, and abuse of power.

Guo Boxiong was a vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission until he stepped down in 2012.

According to prosecutors, he was found to have taken the advantage of his position to assist the promotion and relocation of other people, accepting an extremely huge amount of bribe personally and through his family.

In April, Xinhua reported that Guo had “confessed” to taking bribes, having read and signed transcripts of interrogations undertaken by the military procuratorate.

He becomes the latest high-ranking official convicted under President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign. He was sacked from the Communist Party last July, three months after being placed under formal investigations.

Zhou, 73, a former member of the apex Politburo Standing Committee, is the biggest prey ensnared in Xi’s anti-graft drive that has targeted both “tigers and flies”, referring to senior and junior officials.

He is a former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, which is led by President Xi Jinping.

Guo had admitted his crimes, expressed regret, accepted the judgment and would not appeal, Xinhua said.

Sources have told Reuters that Guo is also suffering from cancer and the military had faced a quandary over whether to put him on trial, in case he died before reaching court, like Xu. His prosecution had been expected since a year ago, when his son, Major General Guo Zhenggang, was investigated for corruption.