China to try ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang for graft

In this photo taken May 4, 2012, Zhou Yongkang, Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of security, attends a conference to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of Chinese Communist Youth League at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. China's official Xinhua News Agency says the country's former security chief, Zhou Yongkang, has been expelled from the Communist Party. Xinhua said the decision was made Friday Dec. 5, 2014 at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the party's Central Committee. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan, File)

Chinese authorities have transferred former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang's corruption case to "judicial organs", paving the way for his trial, the party's anti-graft watchdog said on Wednesday.

The deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Huang Shuxian, made the remarks in a statement on its website.

In 2014, China said it had arrested Zhou and expelled him from the ruling Communist Party, accusing him of crimes ranging from accepting bribes to leaking state secrets. It also said his case had been handed over to judicial authorities.