Ex-military leader Guo Boxiong expelled from CPC

His case follows that of Xu Caihou, who was additionally a Central Military Commission vice chairman concurrently Guo.

Since coming to power more than two years ago Xi has sought to impose himself on the military, one of the targets of his wide-ranging anti-corruption drive.

“His acts seriously violated party discipline and left a vile impact”, said the Politburo.

Guo is accused of accepting bribes to grant promotions and other benefits for others as a vice chairman of the commission, according to Xinhua.

Xinhua reported that he also accepted bribes personally or through his family.

Guo was formally told he was facing an inquiry on the morning of April 9, several sources close to the military said.

Earlier in the month, the same watchdog announced that a former head of the prison system in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region was being investigated for graft.

Commentators began to suspect that Guo might be subject to investigation in March, when PLA officials revealed that they were investigating a number of senior officers, including his son Guo Zhenggang.

The arrest and expulsion of Generals Guo and Xu have been widely considered by analysts to be part of Xi Jinping’s move against their political patron, former Communist Party boss Jiang Zemin.

Print and online media in China launched a broadside against Guo and his relatives on Friday, accusing the family of amassing vast wealth by exploiting his position.

Guo Boxiong ran the daily affairs of the military for eight years and was once a colleague of Xi Jinping’.

The PLA has described Guo as a “bad example” in an editorial published on Friday.

Guo would be sentenced if he is found guilty of the charges brought against him in court.

Andrew Wedeman, a professor of political science at Georgia State University said, “It shows that Xi is willing to press his attack, even if it means taking on the military”, added, “I think that the increased intensity of the anti-corruption campaign is here to stay”.

Xu was vice chairman of the CMC from October 2007 to November 2012 under former party leader Hu Jintao.

The PLA said in January it was probing 16 high-ranking officials for links to corruption, including Fang Changmi, the former deputy political commissar of the Lanzhou Military Region. Xu died of bladder most cancers in March and his case didn’t attain trial.