China probes another associate of former security chief Zhou Yongkang

BEIJING (REUTERS) - China is investigating another associate of embattled retired domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang, the top anti-corruption authority said on Tuesday.

Tan Li, vice governor of the island province of Hainan, is being investigated for law and discipline violations - Communist Party parlance for engaging in corrupt activities.

Tan is the latest official to fall in a graft crackdown orchestrated by President Xi Jinping, who has vowed to take down high-profile "tigers" as well as low-ranking "flies" engaged in corruption.

The statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection follows a notice of the expulsion of Ji Wenlin, a former vice governor of Hainan, from the Communist Party for taking "huge bribes" and committing adultery.

Ji worked under Zhou when the latter was party boss of Sichuan province, his official resume shows, and the two worked together again at the Ministry of Public Security in the early 2000s.

Tan's official resume shows he worked as the propaganda chief in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, while Zhou served as the province's party boss in the late 1990s.

He also worked in various postings in Hainan since 2009. Ji was sacked from his post as vice governor there in March.

Zhou was a patron of the fallen politican Bo Xilai, who was imprisoned for life in September for corruption and abuse of power, in the worst political scandal in decades.

Many of Zhou's associates have been held in custody or interrogated about suspected corruption, including former Vice Minister of Public Security Li Dongsheng and Jiang Jiemin, the former top regulator of state-owned enterprises.

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