BEIJING – A senior Chinese military commander is to face prosecution overinvolvement in bribery, as President Xi Jinping steps up his flagshipanti-corruption campaign.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday that Fang Fenghui, aformer member of the Central Military Commission, China’s top militarybody, was subject to a graft investigation by the authorities.

The 67-year-old is the latest senior figure to be caught in Beijing’scrackdown against corruption. Xu Caihou, a former vice chairman of theCentral Military Commission, was jailed for life last year while GuoBoxiong, who had served in the similar position, died of cancer in 2015before he could face trial. Zhang Yang, a member of the Commission likeFang, was investigated for corruption and over his links to Guo and Xu. Buthe committed suicide in November 2017 before the results of the probe wereknown.

Dozens of other officers have been jailed or investigated over the pastyears over similar charges.

Fang was abruptly replaced as the chief of China’s Joint Staff Departmentof the People’s Liberation Army in August 2017. Reports emerged inSeptember the same year showing that Fang was being questioned on suspicionof corruption. He was also among military officials replaced as part of asweeping military leadership reshuffle in October, when the Communist Partycongress replaced him as a member of the Commission. Fang was in PresidentXi Jinping’s entourage when he traveled to Washington in April to meet USofficials.

The anti-corruption campaign against senior officers of the armed forcescomes as Xi struggles to modernize the Chinese military, which is theworld’s largest. The campaign is part of a broader and more ambitious pushto purge all state institutions of corrupt officials.