China expels two top former generals from Communist Party for corruption

The information was announced by state media on Tuesday.

In two brief and near-identical dispatches, the official Xinhua news agency said the investigation into Fang Fenghui, a senior general who sat on China’s top military body, had concluded and his case passed on to prosecutors.

The other general, Zhang Yang, who sat alongside Fang on the Central Military Commission until both stood down last year, committed suicide in November while being investigated for corruption.

Xinhua said central party and military authorities had sanctioned the recovery of Zhang’s proceeds of corruption.

It said the two men were suspected of giving and receiving bribes and held huge amounts of unexplained financial assets.

China’s military, which is the world’s largest and is in the midst of an ambitious modernization campaign, has been a central focus of President Xi Jinping’s long-running anti-corruption efforts.

Both men were influential military figures and their downfall was seen as part of a military leadership reshuffle that enabled Xi to install trusted allies and consolidate control over the armed forces.