BEIJING (Reuters) - China will prosecute a former vice-chairman of China's top parliamentary advisory body for graft, including taking bribes and selling "ranks and titles", the government said on Monday, the latest senior figure to fall in a deepening anti-corruption campaign.
Su Rong had been one of the 23 vice-chairmen of the largely ceremonial but high-profile Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference until authorities began an investigation last year.
Su abused his power over personnel appointments and the operation of unidentified companies and took "an enormous amount of bribes", said the ruling Communist Party's graft-fighting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
He "abused his power and caused great losses to state assets", it said in a statement, without providing details.
"As a senior party official, Su Rong disregarded the party's political rules ... wantonly sold ranks and titles, led the official ranks astray and damaged the atmosphere in society," the statement said.
His influence was "abominable" and he had been officially stripped of his title and expelled from the party, it said.
Details of Su's case have been handed to judicial authorities, it said, and he will face prosecution in court.
Su previously served as Communist Party boss for the poor inland provinces of Jiangxi and Gansu.
Chinese media has said the probe into Su was linked to his time in Jiangxi, and that Su's wife took bribes related to land deals and construction projects.
It was not possible to reach Su or his family for comment.
In a separate statement, China's top prosecutor, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said two former senior provincial leaders would face trial for graft.
Shen Peiping, former vice governor of southwestern Yunnan province, and Guo Youming, former vice governor of central Hubei province, are both facing charges of taking bribes and abusing their positions, the prosecutor said.
China's campaign against deep-rooted official corruption has intensified since the appointment of President Xi Jinping in 2013, with several senior government figures and state company executives already in detention.