China has placed under investigation the powerful former security chief and recently-retired Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang, officials said on Tuesday, paving the way for the most high-profile corruption case in China’s history.
Mr. Zhou, who stepped down in 2012, becomes the first serving or retired member of the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee – its elite inner circle – to face charges since the trial of the “Gang of Four” more than three decades ago.
He is being investigated for suspected “serious disciplinary violation”, the Central Committee said.
The case has been seen by Communist Party of China (CPC) officials as a strong – and unprecedented – statement of intent by President Xi Jinping, who launched an anti-corruption campaign shortly after taking over in March 2013.
In recent months, a number of officials tied to Mr. Zhou in his three power bases – in Sichuan province, where he earlier served as party boss, in the lucrative state-run oil sector where he was the top official for many years, and in the powerful domestic security apparatus that was under his command for a decade – were removed from their positions under the campaign.
Mr. Xi pledged to crack down on both “tigers and flies” – referring to both lower level cadres and top officials. Mr. Zhou will now become the face of Mr. Xi’s campaign, which has already seen the removal of a top People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General, believed to have had close ties with Mr. Zhou.
While the campaign has been seen as bolstering Mr. Xi’s political power by removing patronage networks within the party that were beholden to alternative power centres.
Mr. Zhou was known to be close to the former Politburo member >Bo Xilai , who was purged on charges of corruption and abuse of power before Mr. Xi took over - the new Chinese leadership has also made clear that its corruption campaign will go beyond politics.
A senior Party official told The Hindu , speaking on condition of anonymity, that the corruption campaign had “changed the way government officials are now working” across different levels of government.
The official, in charge of a city, said that “it has on the one hand come to the situation where officials are frightened to take decisions” because anti-corruption investigators had become so vigilant and empowered.
“On the other hand, we know there is such a strong demand from the public to see action against corruption that we think this campaign will, it the long run, change the way governments function,” the official said. “At the same time, we also need systemic reforms so it is clear to officials what is the right way.”
Mr. Xi has entrusted top official Wang Qishan – who sits on the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee and heads the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) – with taking forward the campaign across all levels of government.
The Central Committee said on Tuesday Mr. Zhou’s investigation will be conducted by the CCDI and was made “in accordance with the CPC Constitution and the CPC discipline inspection authority's case investigation regulation”.
Mr. Zhou was one of China’s most powerful officials between 2002 and 2012, heading the domestic security apparatus under former President Hu Jintao.
