China’s former security chief Zhou Yongkang is being investigated for suspected “serious disciplinary violation”, state media say.
The news confirms rumours about the hugely powerful former minister, who has not been seen in public for months.
Mr. Zhou headed China’s Ministry of Public Security and was a member of the top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee.
The move to target him will send shockwaves through the political elite.
He is the most senior Chinese official to be investigated since the Gang of Four – which included the wife of late leader Mao Zedong – in the early 1980s.
Zhou Yongkang retired in late 2012, as Xi Jinping took over from Hu Jintao as the Communist Party leader and China’s president.
Since the transition, Mr Xi has introduced a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption within the party, warning graft could threaten the organisation’s very survival.
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