Ma Xiangdong, head of the political affairs department in the Political Studies Institute in Nanjing, was detained early this month, shortly after Dai Weimin, deputy principle of the institute was being investigated.

The move is regarded as bolstering the central leadership's anti-graft efforts in the military.

Ma was alleged to have accepted bribes in exchange for the PLA universities' enrolment qualification when he was the head of the personnel training bureau in the general political department of the People's Liberation Army. He held the position in 2009 until he was moved to the institute.

The training bureau is in charge of the enrolment of students in the country's 29 PLA universities, the enrolment of students majoring in defense in 60 non-military universities, as well as enrolment in some other universities. In 2014, the PLA universities took in 15,000 students.

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