Fang Fenghui convicted of bribery offences and unclear source of assets in crackdown

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A former chief of staff of China’s military who was swept up in President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft crackdown has been sentenced to life in prison, state media said on Wednesday.

Fang Fenghui, who was appointed to the top post in People’s Liberation Army in 2012, was convicted of accepting and offering bribes, and having an unclear source of a huge amount of assets, the news agency Xinhua reported.

A military court sentenced him to life in prison, stripped him of political rights for life and ordered the confiscation of all his personal assets, Xinhua said.

Fang was abruptly replaced in August 2017 during a territorial standoff with India, and just days after he had met senior US officials to discuss North Korea.

The general was transferred to the military prosecution authority on suspicion of bribery in January 2018, state media reported at the time.

Fang was one of two senior generals who did not appear on a list of delegates to the Communist party’s five-yearly congress in October 2017, sparking speculation he had been caught up in Xi’s anti-corruption campaign.

The other, Zhang Yang, killed himself in Beijing later that year after being investigated over connections to two graft-tainted former senior military officers.

Xi has pledged to continue the anti-corruption crackdown, which since 2012 has brought down 1.5 million party officials, including top military leaders.

Corruption has long been an intractable problem for the country, but many experts argue that the campaign has the hallmarks of a political purge as the Chinese president consolidates his power.

Xi has sought to enhance his control over China’s 2 million-strong military, the world’s largest, reshuffling its leadership and vowing to make it “world-class” by 2050.

The military was ordered to pledge to be “absolutely loyal, honest and reliable to Xi” in new guidelines released by the Central Military Commission in 2017. The CMC is chaired by Xi.

Fang’s recovered assets will be turned over to the state treasury, Xinhua said.