China Briefing | Legal fate of Zhou Yongkang vexes leadership
Party elites appear caught in disagreement over whether ex-security tsar should be prosecuted or given the weight of evidence, merely expelled
Intense speculation has been building since late last year mainland authorities would soon make public the results of the official investigation into Zhou Yongkang, one of China's most powerful officials of the past decade, and turn him over to criminal prosecution.
The expectation was fuelled by the detention of several senior officials widely known as his key supporters, men who had risen through the ranks of his power bases - the energy sector and resource-rich Sichuan province.
They include Jiang Jiemin , who was the top regulator of state-owned enterprises and previously the chairman of China National Petroleum Corporation, and at least three of his former secretaries. In addition, a number of Zhou's relatives, including his eldest son, Zhou Bin , have been arrested on corruption charges.
It's a common tactic by anti-graft investigators going after a senior leader to first target close associates and family members.
Zhou was a member of the Communist Party's supreme Politburo Standing Committee, tasked with overseeing national security for a decade before he retired in late 2012. He would be the most senior official to fall on corruption charges since the party came to power in 1949.
Some overseas media, caught up in the fervour, have repeatedly predicted the announcement of Zhou's prosecution was imminent, first at the beginning of the year, then around the Lunar New Year in February, saying it would come before or after the annual sessions of the National People's Congress in March.
The latest prediction is the announcement will be made this month, but there has been little indication the speculation is indeed on solid ground.