The First Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin near Beijing jailed Ling Jihua, a top aide to former China president Hu Jintao [Britannica profile], and sentenced him to life [Xinhua report] after finding him guilty of taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power. This sentence comes after the Supreme People’s Court of China’s confirmation in April [JURIST report] that the maximum penalty for the crime of corruption in the form of embezzlement or accepting bribes amounting to high sums of money will be the death penalty. The verdict against Ling was announced during a secret trial in which his wife, Gu Liping, testified against him via video [Reuters report] and multimedia presentations of evidence. According to Xinhua News Agency (XNA), the government’s official press, Ling accepted bribes amounting to over 77.08 million yuan or almost US $11.6 million. During the trial on June 7, the court summoned Lou Zhongfu and Cui Xiaoyu as witnesses, both of whom testified that they offered bribes to Ling or his wife. According to XNA, Ling also abused his power to assist two individuals and their relatives with job transfers, house purchase, promotion, and change of residential status, causing substantial losses to public funds. XNA also reports that Ling illegally obtained a large amount of classified materials through Huo Ke, the then head of the secretariat of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee’s General Office and others, which seriously compromised the country’s secrecy system. According to the court, Ling’s deceased son Ling Gu was also briefly mentioned as having taken bribes, a fact that Ling was aware of but did nothing to prevent. According to the court, Ling pled guilty and decided not to appeal. He has also been deprived of his political rights for life and had his personal assets confiscated.

The CPC announced the opening of its investigation of Ling in December 2014, as a part of another chapter in President Xi Jinping‘s [BBC profile] sweeping campaign against corruption which he began more than three years ago, following his appointment in 2013. Ever since Xi’s appointment, China has stepped up prosecutions for domestic corruption. In February the Hangzhou Christian Council announced [JURIST report] that a prominent Chinese Pastor is under investigation for corruption involving the embezzlement of state funds. In November a Chinese court jailed a top aide to the country’s former security chief [JURIST report] Zhou Yongkang on corruption charges. In October Chinese state media reported that the former head of the country’s biggest oil firm was sentenced to 16 years in prison [JURIST report] for corruption. In September prosecutors in China announced that they will be investigating former China Supreme Court justice Xi Xiaoming on corruption charges [JURIST report]. In August a former general in China’s People’s Liberation Army, Gu Junshan, was sentenced [JURIST report] by a Chinese military court to death with a two year reprieve for corruption charges.