[JURIST] The Chinese government on Friday announced [press release] that it will prosecute Ma Jian, a former vice minister of China’s Ministry of State Security, after he was accused of bribery and abusing his powers. Jian was put under investigation in 2015 following the conviction [BBC report] of Zhou Yongkang, the former head of China’s domestic security services, for bribery, abuse of power, and leaking state secrets. The investigation concluded that Jian used his powers to benefit the business interests of family members and to interfere in law enforcement. Jian was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party as a result of the charges.

Jian’s arrest is the latest in a broad anti-corruption campaign being led by President Xi Jinping and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Following Jinping’s promise to root out corruption among high-level officials, numerous officials, such as Yongkang and Ling Jihua, a senior aide to former President Hu Jinato, have received [Reuters report] life sentences for their corruption charges. Thus far, Yongkang was the most senior official to be convicted of corruption charges in the history of China’s Communist regime. China’s Communist party exerts a strong influence over its courts systems, making it likely [NYT report] that Jian and all other officials that may face prosecution in the future will be convicted. Earlier this month, the Chinese government also arrested [JURIST report] Iat Hong and Chin Hung of Macau, and Bo Zheng of China on cybersecurity allegations. In October 2015, Chinese authorities arrested [JURIST report] individual hackers that allegedly misappropriated commercial secrets from US firms with the intention to sell proprietary information to state-owned entires within the the People’s Republic of China.