Opening Ceremony Of The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (Photo : Getty Images)
To stress that graft and corruption have no place in government, Chinese President Xi Jinping allowed in April the production of "In the Name of the People," a TV series with an anti-corruption theme.
His campaign is paying off. On Monday, Xinhua News Agency reported that a Chinese court sentenced Ling Jihua, a top aide of former Chinese President Hu Jintao, to life imprisonment. The 59-year-old was former secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China.
In a closed-door trial, he was convicted by the No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court in Tianjin for accepting bribes, obtaining state secrets illegally and abusing power. The estimated amount he got from bribes was bribes was 77 million yuan, reported South China Morning Post.
Ling pleaded guilty on June 7 in a one-day trial that was closed to the public because it involved state secrets. Before his trial, the party kicked out Ling and filed cases in May of corruption and discipline violations, including having mistresses. The former minister of the United Front Work Department and vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference did not appeal his conviction.
The anti-corruption campaign initiated by Xi, also gave Zhou Yongkang, the security czar, a similar life sentence. It has caught over 100,000 officials since the campaign was launched in 2013 when Xi became president.
Ling, a top candidate for a Politburo post, fell out of power because of accusations that he covered up details of the death of his son in a Ferrari crash in March 2012.
In his last statement during the trial, Ling said, “I accept all the allegations made against me and have no complaint about the judgment. I will never forget today’s trial, as if it were something engraved on my bones and heart.”
