China is investigating one of its top spy chiefs for corruption, the ruling Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog said on Friday, signaling that the boldest crackdown on corruption in decades has spilled over into its powerful intelligence apparatus.
Ma Jian, a vice minister at China’s Ministry of State Security, is the most senior security official to be investigated since former domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang was ensnared in a graft scandal last July.
The investigation into Ma could lead to a shake-up in China’s powerful state security ministry, a KGB-like operation that spies on its citizens and foreigners domestically and internationally.
Several of Ma’s men are also being questioned to assist with the investigation, a source with ties to the leadership told Reuters, without giving further details.
The ministry is one of the most opaque government agencies in China and does not have a public website or spokesperson.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said Ma was under investigation on “suspicion of serious violations of discipline and the law”. In China, “serious violations of discipline and law” usually means graft.
The CCDI did not give further details.
It is unclear what triggered the investigation of Ma, who is said to have headed China’s counter-espionage programs.
President Xi Jinping has vowed to target high-ranking “tigers” as well as lowly “flies” in his anti-corruption drive, and has pledged to deepen the most sweeping campaign against graft in years.
