The Chinese Communist Party is to launch a year-long probe into the incomes of military staff, state media outlets yesterday reported, following revelations of widespread graft in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Beijing has described corruption as a key threat to China’s military modernization campaign, which has seen double digit increases in the army budget for more than a decade.
The Central Military Commission — headed by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — is to conduct an “investigation of all military personnel,” the state-run Global Times reported.
The audit is be overseen by PLA General Logistics Department Director Zhao Keshi (趙克石), and is set to look into “all cash flows, receipts and expenses” to find evidence of embezzlement, official army media said, according to the report.
The investigation “will be far reaching and may involve conflicts of interest,” it quoted Zhao as saying.
Xi has vowed a crackdown against endemic corruption, an issue that has long-drawn widespread public anger in China.
The PLA last month said it launched investigations into 16 senior officers at corps level and higher last year.
Former PLA deputy logistics boss Lieutenant General Gu Junshan (谷俊山) was formally charged with corruption last year after he was exposed as owning dozens of homes, state media reported.
Officials seized “a gold boat, a gold wash basin and a gold statue of [former Chinese leader] Mao Zedong (毛澤東)” along with “crates of expensive liquor” from one of Gu’s residences, reports said at the time.
Xi’s campaign also led last year to the ousting of the former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, General Xu Caihou (徐才厚).
However Beijing has not introduced reforms such as official asset declaration or independent courts and media, leading to criticism that the anti-graft drive is politically motivated.
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