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China arrests ex-security chief Zhou over graft, leaking secrets

– A Bo Xilai-like trial? –

Zhou’s expulsion from the party had been rumoured for months, and a number of officials with close ties to the former security czar have recently been ousted from the party.

They include Ji Wenlin, Yu Gang and Tan Hong, all former secretaries to Zhou, according to overseas Chinese reports.

Jean-Pierre Cabestan, an expert on Chinese politics and law at Hong Kong Baptist University, said ahead of Saturday’s announcement that the gradual tightening of the noose around Zhou suggested that he would be “eventually” tried.

But he noted that authorities would probably be wary of opening up the proceedings.

“There’s always a risk with a public trial,” he said, adding that party leaders may move to ensure that a Zhou trial is “more controlled” than the dramatic Bo proceedings, which included descriptions of a love triangle and details of the vast wealth amassed by the party’s upper echelon.

In addition to Zhou, Xi’s anti-graft campaign has also led to the ousting of Xu Caihou, a former vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission.

Xu, who was a Politburo member until 2012, in July became the first of the body’s former members to fall in the current crackdown on graft, which follows the ascension of Xi to power as the head of the party.

Despite the crackdown, a recent report by Berlin-based Transparency International suggested that corruption has actually worsened in China, in part because “too many cases take place behind closed doors”.

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