In the latest sign of the Chinese leadership's determination to eradicate official corruption, the ruling Communist Party has expelled a former top military leader for taking bribes and sent his case to prosecutors.
General Guo Boxiong, who served as a vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission for over a decade, was found to "have taken advantage of his post to seek promotion and other benefits for others, and accepted bribes personally or through his family," the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, quoting a Party statement.
The military commission runs the two-million strong People's Liberation Army -- the world's largest standing army.
Guo, 73, retired in early 2013 and Xinhua said the Party's disciplinary arm launched a formal investigation over him in April.
"His acts seriously violated Party discipline and left a vile impact," the Politburo statement said.
Second military tiger
Guo became the second former military leader caught in President Xi Jinping's anti-graft dragnet. Since he came to power in late 2012, Xi has vowed to eradicate corruption, long a lightning rod for mass discontent in this country of 1.3 billion people.
With a stated goal of targeting both "tigers and flies" -- high- and low-ranking officials -- Xi's massive campaign has led to thousands of arrests and convictions on graft charges.
Until Thursday's announcement, the biggest "military tiger" to fall had been General Xu Caihou, another former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission who served alongside Guo.
Xu was expelled from the party in mid-2014 for taking bribes and abuse of power.
Narrowly escaping prosecution due to illness, Xu died of bladder cancer in March at the age of 71.
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