Top aide of ex-Chinese prez charged with graft,abuse of power

A close aide of former Chinese President Hu Jintao was today charged with taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power as the high-profile anti-graft campaign launched by President Xi Jinping targeted major power centres in the previous regime.
Ling Jihua, 59, who wielded considerable power under Hu's administration as the vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),and head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) before he fell from grace and 2014, a year after Xi came to power and and put under investigation.

China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) in a statement said that following the investigation, it has designated the No 1 branch of Tianjin Municipal People's Procuratorate to exercise jurisdiction over the case.
Ling's high profile world came down when his son Ling Gu's driving USD 83,000-worth Ferrari sports car died in a crash Beijing in March, 2012. Two young women, one naked and the other semi-naked who were in the car were seriously injured. There were allegations of a cover up of the investigations.
Ling also allegedly used his many high-ranking positions in government as a way to solicit bribes, seek favours for friends and illegally obtain state secrets, the prosecutor said, without specifying the nature of the secrets.

He was one of the several top CPC politicians who were prosecuted for corruption and abuse of power in Xi's high profile anti-corruption campaign in which thousands of officials from different ranks were prosecuted in the last three years.

Besides Ling, those prosecuted so far included former national security Czar, Zhou Yangkong, senior communist party leaders Bo Xilai and his wife as well top military officials like Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong.
"Prosecutors informed defendant Ling Jihua about his litigation rights in accordance with law, questioned Ling and heard representations from Ling's lawyer," the SPP statement said.
The indictment accused Ling of seeking benefits for others and asking for and illegally accepting a huge amount of property, taking advantage of his powerful posts.

Ling's offence in illegally obtaining state secrets is serious and he also committed extremely serious offence in abusing his power and causing major losses to public property and the interests of the country and its people, the indictment said.
It said he should be held criminally responsible for accepting bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.