A top Chinese military general, who led an opulent lifestyle, was on Monday given a suspended death sentence, the first conviction of about 40 high-level army officials currently under investigation as part of President Xi Jinping's high-profile campaign against graft.
Gu Junshan, former deputy head of the General Logistics Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), was found guilty of embezzlement, accepting bribes, misuse of state funds, bribery and abuse of power, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
He has been deprived of his political rights for life and had all his personal assets confiscated, according to a statement from the court.
Gu was also stripped of his rank of lieutenant general, and all the illicit funds and materials involved will be confiscated, the statement said, adding that the military procuratorate had added the charge of bribery during the trial, it said.
He was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. According to earlier official media reports, General Gu led a lavish life.
Besides owning a vast properties, his home in Henan province modelled on China's former imperial palace Forbidden City with several gold art pieces or statues.
Gu reportedly owned dozens of properties in Beijing while his brother, who set up plants to produce military supplies, had built seven villas.
During a search of Gu's Puyang villa a golden statue of Mao Zedong, a golden washbasin, a golden statue of ship and boxes of expensive Chinese liquor Moutai were confiscated by authorities.
About 40 high-ranking military officials, including two Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC) – the highest body which controlled China 2.3 million-strong military - were being probed in the massive anti-corruption drive launched by Xi, Beijing Youth Daily said.
The two former vice-chairmen of the CMC - Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou - have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party. Guo's case has been transferred to judiciary, while Xu died of cancer in March.
The sweeping anti-corruption which touched all most all arms of the government and the ruling Communist Party resulted in convictions of very high-level officials. Since he took over, Xi has been keen that the military should weeded out of corrupt officials while ordering massive realtime drills to win wars.
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