This file picture taken October 14, 2007 shows Chinese Communist Party Congress spokesman Li Dongsheng speaking at a press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
China's vice minister of public security is under investigation for "suspected serious law and discipline violations", the Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog said on Friday.
No further details were given about the probe into Li Dongsheng, who is also vice head of a central government group responsible for handling cults.
The term "serious discipline violations" normally refers to corruption, and the news about Li comes as speculation swirls about the country's former domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang.
Zhou, one of the most powerful politicians of the last decade, has been put under under virtual house arrest while the ruling Communist Party investigates accusations of corruption against him, sources told Reuters earlier this month.
The Central Commission for Discipline and Inspection - the party's anti-graft watchdog - said in November it would target all senior officials, as part of reforms to deepen its war on corruption.
President Xi Jinping has pursued an aggressive anti-corruption drive since coming to power, establishing an anti-graft watchdog and vowing to pursue high-flying "tigers" as well as lowly "flies".
© Thomson Reuters 2013