DHAKA: A top Chinese military officer was arrested for corruption after lining his pockets with kickbacks and buying dozens of homes, a gilded statue of Mao Zedong, and a ‘golden boat’.

Gu Junshan, a former lieutenant general and deputy logistics chief with great influence within the People’s Liberation Army, was arrested after an investigation into his personal affairs.

The Caixin magazine reported this week that the state confiscated possessions including the Mao statue and a mansion he built modelled on the Forbidden City in Beijing, says Al Jazeera.

It alleged he took huge kickbacks through selling military-owned land. In Shanghai, Gu allegedly received a six percent kickback for a military plot that fetched more than $330 million, and in his hometown of Puyang, his family was known for land grabs and property developments, Caixin said.

Officials seized ‘a gold boat, a gold wash basin and a gold statue of Mao Zedong’ along with ‘crates of expensive liquor’ on the premises known by locals as the ‘General’s Mansion’, according to Caixin.

BDST: 1618 HRS, JAN 16, 2014
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor