Chinese Official Ling Jihua Expelled From Communist Party Following Corruption Investigation

Ling Jihua, once a top aide to former Chinese President Hu Jintao has been expelled from the Communist Party. In a coordinated announcement, state media reported on Monday that Ling will be prosecuted for corruption following a six-month investigation.

Ling, the former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee, has been arrested and will be investigated by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate for bribery.

“Investigations found Ling seriously violated the political discipline and rules of the CPC [Communist Party of China], as well as the Party’s organizational and confidentiality discipline,” state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. “He took advantage of his posts to seek profit for others and accepted huge bribes personally and through his family.”

Ling also is accused of committing adultery with a number of women and using his position of power for sex, according to a statement by the Politburo of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

The statement added: “Ling’s acts completely deviated from the CPC’s nature and purpose, seriously violated the Party’s discipline and severely undermined the Party’s image.”

Ling was once considered one of the party’s biggest rising stars with leadership potential. However, his reputation was never the same after his son, Ling Gu, was killed in a car accident that also injured two female passengers in 2012. The accident brought to light rumors of a drug-fueled sex party and an effort to cover up the accident by the elder Ling.

Since the accident, it seemed there was nothing Ling could do to get back in the party’s good graces. It wasn’t long until his associates within and outside the government also were investigated, a report in the state-run Global Times found earlier this year. The report found that about a dozen people in Ling’s clique of officials from his days working in Shanxi province also were investigated or taken into custody over the past three years as the anti-corruption body closed in on Ling.