China's PLA names 16 senior commanders as graft suspects

The military made a rare move yesterday by listing 16 senior commanders to come under investigation for graft over the last year.

The People's Liberation Army has singled out corrupt individual officers over the past two years but never so many at one time. The list includes familiar names as well as new additions, including two from the logistics department, a PLA unit that oversees military spending.

Lieutenant General Liu Zheng , who replaced Gu Junshan as the department's deputy director in late 2012, has been investigated since November, according the PLA Daily's microblog. Gu was also charged with bribery and embezzlement in March. Prosecutors have also detained Major General Fu Linguo , the deputy political commissar of the department's general office, since May.

Yu Daqing, former deputy political commissar of the Second Artillery Corps, China's missile force, has been investigated since December.

The other generals on the list include Lieutenant General Fan Changmi , deputy political commissar of Lanzhou Military Area Command; former deputy commander of the Chengdu Military Area Command Yang Jinshan ; and various officials and academics rumoured of involvement in the corruption scandals of Gu and former Central Military Commission vice-chairman Xu Caihou .

Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said the list was just "the tip of the iceberg" of widespread graft in the PLA. "[President Xi Jinping ] was forced to wage such a massive war on graft in the army because corruption has deeply corroded the PLA's morale," he said.