FORMER CHINESE POLITBURO MEMBER MA XINGRUI INDICTED FOR BRIBERY

Chinese prosecutors have indicted former senior official Ma Xingrui on charges of accepting bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said on Thursday. The National Supervisory Commission concluded its investigation into Ma and transferred the case to procuratorial authorities in Yichang, Hubei Province, which approved his arrest. The Yichang procuratorate has filed a public prosecution against Ma with the Yichang Intermediate People's Court. Prosecutors accused him of using his leadership positions to accept bribes and secure benefits for others, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

Ma was a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee and deputy head of its Leading Group for Rural Affairs. He was named to the Politburo in 2022, after serving as Communist Party chief of the Xinjiang region until 2025 and, before that, as governor of Guangdong province. An engineer by training, he worked in the aerospace industry before entering local government. His case became public in April, when authorities said he was being investigated for severe violations of party discipline and national laws, without giving details. Xinhua reported that prosecutors described the bribes he accepted as "exceptionally large".

Communist Party leaders confirmed Ma's expulsion from the party a week before the indictment, at the Central Committee's fifth plenum, which adopted a resolution on strengthening discipline and combating corruption. The plenum also ratified the expulsion of more than 30 senior officials, including Ma and a former officer who was the army's top general until earlier this year. The Politburo had 24 members before Ma and two military generals were removed from it. Analysts have said the campaign enforces loyalty to Chinese leader Xi Jinping as well as addressing corruption.