Xu Caihou
Sometime in 2014, Yang was investigated by the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Central Military Commission, the military's top anti-graft body. The details of the investigation were not released, as is common practice with military graft cases. In October 2014, Yang was expelled from the Communist Party at the and ejected from the Communist Party's Central Committee. Official sources did not state the reasons for his expulsion, though Chinese-language media have speculated about his links to the corruption cases of Gu Junshan and Xu Caihou.