Prosecutors in northeast China have officially charged Sun Lijun, a former public security vice-minister , with accepting a “huge amount” of bribes, market manipulation and the illegal possession of firearms. The official Xinhua News Agency said Sun, 53, was indicted by state prosecutors in Changchun in Jilin province and will face trial soon. ‘No mercy’ in anti-corruption drive, Xi warns Communist Party His case is one of the most high-profile corruption cases involving the security apparatus in recent years following the arrest and jailing of former Interpol president Meng Hongwei . According to the indictment, Sun is accused of taking advantage of his position to accept “particularly large sums” throughout his career in cities including Shanghai and Beijing. Sun is also charged with “particularly serious” manipulation of the securities market and the illegal possession of firearms. On Thursday he appeared in the trailer for a new documentary series on corruption, which showed him dressed in a black prison uniform saying: “I never thought that I would become a destroyer of the rule of law, or fairness and justice”. Two other officials, former Guizhou deputy party chief Wang Fuyu and Hangzhou party boss Zhou Jiangyong also appeared in the trailer, confessing wrongdoing and expressing remorse. Wang was charged with accepting over 450 million yuan (US$70.7 million) in bribes last November and is awaiting trial. Zhou was detained by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the Communist Party’s top disciplinary watchdog, on suspicion of corruption in August and the case is still under investigation. The documentary series, called Zero Tolerance, is a co-production by the CCDI and state broadcaster China Central Television that features 16 major corruption cases, with the first episode to air on Saturday. Also on Thursday, Tong Daochi, 54, former party chief of southern Hainan province’s tourist city Sanya, pleaded guilty in a court in Shenzhen to taking 274 million yuan in bribes and insider trading. His sentence will be announced at a later date. China’s ‘corruption problem’ at local levels poses political, economic risks Earlier this week President Xi Jinping warned top officials not to waver in their anti-corruption efforts. “There will be no mercy regardless of who you are if party rules and the country’s laws are broken,” Xi said, according to Xinhua’s report. Sun, who was first placed under investigation in April 2020, was expelled from the party and dismissed from his post in September. At the time, the CCDI accused him of “never having real faith or ideals” and harbouring “hugely inflated political ambitions”. He was also said to be forming gangs and factions to seize control of key security departments, and “causing extreme danger” to the party. Ex-deputy commander of Xinjiang paramilitary body accused of corruption Sun, a former personal aide to retired security tsar Meng Jianzhu, was later promoted to head the Ministry of Public Security’s First Bureau, which is responsible for China’s domestic security, including Hong Kong and Macau. He was also part of a team sent to Wuhan at the start of the Covid-19 epidemic. When Xi visited the city in March that year, Sun was shown on national television reporting to the leader. He was arrested a month later.