A close aide of former Chinese president Hu Jintao was on Monday jailed for life for taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power, making him one of the senior officials of the previous regime to be punished in the anti-corruption campaign launched by President Xi Jinping.
ling Jihua, 59, pleaded guilty and decided not to appeal, the First Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin which conducted the trial said in its judgement. ling was regarded as a very power official during the ten-year regime of Hu, 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 launched the anti- corruption campaign.