As part of President Xi Jinping's drive to rid the Chinese government of corrupt officials, a former high-ranking general has now been found guilty of bribery and corruption. A Chinese court has sentenced the former chief of joint staff of the People's Liberation Army to life imprisonment.
According to state media reports, former General Fang Fenghui has been found guilty of accepting money from unknown sources, which has resulted in him accumulating a massive amount of wealth. The former official was apparently not able to account for where he got his money and other assets. The former chief of joint staff previously worked closely with the president, even accompanying him during his first visit with United States President Donald Trump in 2017.
President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive has resulted in the imprisonment of numerous high-ranking officials. The drive, which began when Xi Ping took power in 2012, has mainly focused on the country's military. The military itself has recently received a number of high-profile and expensive projects under Xi Ping's administration.
Some officials in the military are vulnerable to being approached by contractors and businesses that want to be prioritized to be part of its various projects. Some of the more high-profile officers that have been arrested include former vice chairmen of Central Military Commission Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou. Guo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2016, while Xu died of cancer before he could face his charges in 2015. Other high-profile targets of Xi Jinping's campaign include Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission Zhou Yongkang and Communist Party Secretary of Chongqing, Sun Zengcai.
Fang Fenghui was a member of China's supreme military body called the Central Military Commission. He suddenly left his post in 2017 and was not seen in public for months. Reports later confirmed that he was under investigation for allegedly accepting bribes. The government also confirmed that all of Fang's assets have been frozen. However, it was not revealed just how much money was in Fang's bank accounts or how much his assets were worth.
The 67-year-old military general was the youngest commander of the People's Liberation Army and is described by his peers as an "opportunist." He joined the military when he was 16-years-old and he quickly climbed the ranks, leading up to his promotion as Major General in 1998. Fang was also reportedly very close to the former head of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission Zhang Yang, who committed suicide in 2017 while he was being investigated for graft and corruption allegations.
