While China waits for a trial date for former security chief Zhou Yongkang, an inquiry has yielded evidence that he ordered unauthorised spying on top leaders, including President Xi Jinping.
The investigation showed that Mr Zhou used phone taps and other methods to gather information on the family assets, private lives and political stances of China's leaders, Bloomberg reported, citing two sources who requested anonymity.
Mr Zhou (72) was arrested and expelled from the party in December last year. He was accused of a range of crimes ranging from taking bribes to having mistresses to leaking state secrets.
He is the highest profile target yet in President Xi’s campaign to root out corruption in China, whether it involves massive wealth accumulated by the powerful “tigers” of the elite or backhanders palmed over to the “flies” at the bottom of the Communist Party.
Part of the charge sheet against him earlier this month said that Mr Zhou leaked party and national secrets, without going into further details. He was also charged with bribery and abuse of power, according to the second person, who asked not to be identified.
Supreme Court president Zhou Qiang said his trial would be open "in accordance with the law". No date has been announced for the trial, which looks set to take place in Tianjin.
In a separate development, the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily ran an article saying another senior figure, Ling Jihua, whose son died in a Ferrari crash, was guilty of corruption.
In 2012, a black Ferrari 458 Spider ran into a bridge in Beijing, killing the driver and seriously injuring two female passengers. Although the authorities refused to name the driver, local media, and increasingly official media, said it was Ling Gu, son of Ling Jihua, a close ally of President Hu Jintao.
