Opinion | Leaders should come clean on investigation into Zhou Yongkang
Leaders should acknowledge probe into dealings of former security chief to curb speculation and to demonstrate no one is above the law
When will the country's leadership make public its unprecedented corruption investigation of Zhou Yongkang, once one of China's most powerful leaders in charge of the massive security apparatus?
That was the subject of intense speculation over the internet and social media over the past few weeks - so much so, that there were suggestions each week that an announcement was due within the week.
So far the central government has remained silent despite the emergence on overseas Chinese websites of increasingly lurid and shocking allegations involving Zhou, his family members and his cronies.
Many of the claims, thus far unsubstantiated, sound like something from a Hollywood thriller - that Zhou sanctioned a fatal hit-and-run accident involving his first wife so he could marry former CCTV anchor Jia Xiaoye ; or that Zhou conspired with other rogue elements in the leadership to harm and even overthrow President Xi Jinping , who came to power a year ago.
Some reports said Zhou and his cronies received hundreds of millions of yuan to allow jailed mobsters to walk free.
Others suggested that Zhou and his family have abused his power to accumulate illicit wealth ranging from 10 billion (HK12.3 billion) to 100 billion yuan, depending on the various versions circulating over the overseas Chinese websites.