Michael Forsythe, The New York Times
HONG KONG — Prosecutors in China have completed an investigation of the former top military officer in the country, finding that he and his relatives took “huge” bribes, the official state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
Military prosecutors found that the former general, Guo Boxiong, 73, who served as China’s foremost military official for a decade until his retirement in 2012, took bribes in exchange for helping other officers win promotions or transfers, Xinhua reported. General Guo “candidly confessed” to taking bribes, it said in coverage of the case written in question-and-answer form.
The investigation’s findings paved the way for a trial and was a procedural step toward a guilty verdict for General Guo. In July, he was placed under investigation and was stripped of his Communist Party membership.
His prosecution illustrates the lengths to which President Xi Jinping, who also serves as chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party, will go to purge the People’s Liberation Army of corruption.
The two top military officers under Hu Jintao, Mr. Xi’s predecessor, who both served on the party’s 25-member Politburo, have been expelled from the party on suspicion of graft. General Guo’s former colleague on the Politburo, Gen. Xu Caihou, was also facing trial on bribery charges but he died of cancer early last year.
“Guo Boxiong’s family members and others who are suspected of committing crimes will be dealt with according to laws and facts, as well as evidence, and there will be zero tolerance,” the Xinhua report said.
Dozens of other senior military officials have been felled in the anticorruption campaign, which has taken place alongside a reorganization of the army and continued increases in military spending.
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