Beijing, Jan 9: China’s former military chief Gen Fang Fenghui, who till recently headed the world’s largest army, will be prosecuted for corruption, state media reported today, becoming the latest top defence official to be netted in the anti-graft campaign launched by President Xi Jinping.
Besides being head of the military till last year Gen Fang was a member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) headed by Xi. CMC is the overall high command of the 2.3 million-strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA). He was under a cloud for sometime now. He was removed in August amid the 73-day Dokalam standoff with India. Fang has been transferred to the military prosecution authority on suspicion of bribery, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
The transfer was made after the approval of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), the report said. Fang, 66, once the youngest commander of a PLA was described as an “opportunist” by military insiders, report saif. Last November, his colleague Gen Zhang Yang, also a member of the CMC under Xi, committed suicide as he also faced an anti-graft probe. “Fang has close links to Zhang’s superiors and subordinates because they were both proteges of disgraced former CMC vice-chairmen Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, with Fang being the most skillful opportunist, closely following Guo,” the Post report said.
PTI
