positions until 2013. He was an alternate member of the 14th and the 15th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and a full member of the 16th and the 17th Central Committees. CPPCC and downfall In March 2013, Su became one of the 23 vice-chairmen of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The position enjoyed the official ranking as a "national leader". However, in June 2014, the Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog announced that he was being probed for "disciplinary violations", which typically indicate corruption. At the time of the announcement, he was the highest-ranking official, and the only "national leader"-class figure, to come under investigation for graft since Xi Jinping became General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012. Several other senior officials of Jiangxi province had already been under investigation, including vice governors Yao Mugen and Zhao Zhiyong, and vice-chairman of the provincial congress, Chen Anzhong. His CPPCC colleague and former Hu Jintao aide, CPPCC Vice-Chairman Ling Jihua, was also detained for corruption in December 2014. The results of the CCDI investigation into Su Rong was announced February 16, 2015. It concluded that Su Rong "violated organizational discipline, unilaterally upstaged decisions made by consensus [...] used his position of power to seek gain for others during the promotion process of officials and the operations of businesses, took a massive amount of bribes." It also said that he was responsible for wasting government resources and had "leading responsibility" for problems with corruption in Jiangxi province which festered under his watch. In the past, the CCDI's investigation announcements into officials have largely followed a bland and oft-repeated formula. In Su's case, however, the CCDI used many new phrases to describe the details of his alleged wrongdoing. He was said to have "shown blatant disregard about party political rules," "liberally sold offices for cash," "severely poisoned the local political environment," "encouraged and condoned his relatives to use their relationship to him to influence political affairs." His offenses were "of an especially egregious nature and caused extraordinarily bad influence." Su was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party, and indicted on charges of bribery and abuse of power, and his case moved to judicial authorities for prosecution. On January 23, 2017, Su Rong was sentenced to life in prison for bribery, deprivation of political rights for life and confiscation of all personal property. Court documents showed that he took bribes