Xi Jinping, The Model Worker

Apparently Xi Jinping works so hard that he doesn't have lunch...

The former personal secretary to then President Hu Jintao and chief of the Party's General Office, Ling Jihua, was jailed for life last month for bribery and other crimes. And it seems the current president isn't content to let the matter rest, but continue the negative campaign against Ling and his boss.

The chief of staff to Xi Jinping Li Zhanshu revealed details about conflicts within the communist party's general secretariat in a transcript that was published on the website of People's Daily today.

"During the investigation [into Ling]... some had hidden facts and some had resisted the investigation. Those are not honest people," Li said in a speech delivered in June to the General Office.

Xi's staff reveals more allegations against Ling Jihua (centre)

"During Ling's stint in office, some people courted, pandered to, and flattered him without principles," he said.

Ling had worked for 17 years in the General Office, which handles security, health care, paperwork and logistics for senior leaders, and his last five years were as chief of this office.

This prime job came to a crashing end in March 2012 when his son was killed in a car accident involving a Ferrari and two women.

The incident not only left Ling completely exposed, but at least eight other colleagues too.

One was Huo Ke, who was the director of the office's secretary bureau. He was expelled from the party for taking bribes and leaking state secrets to Ling, according to state media reports.

Another was Xia Yong, the former director of the office's research branch, who was expelled from the country's top advisory body, which indirectly confirmed a reported investigation into his activities.

Does President Xi exercise? Inquiring minds want to know

"When Ling told you to tell a lie, if you really didn't care to tell the truth, you could at least remain silent; when Ling did wrong, if you didn't have the courage to expose it, you could at least refrain from being an accomplice," Li said.

He added all office employees, from drivers to chefs to guards and clerks -- must remain absolutely loyal to the party, echoing an instruction from Xi in 2014.

Li also explained Xi and other senior leaders worked long hours, explaining that documents could be sent to them as late as 11pm or midnight, and that during overseas state visits, Xi attended numerous meetings with heads of state and events each day.

And back at home, Xi wakes up early and returns home around 9pm or 10pm without having eaten lunch and still reads documents and handles daily administrative affairs, according to Li.

Sounds like Xi wants to prove that he and his colleagues are working hard to solve the country's problems and make the best decisions.

But does Xi really not eat lunch? His portly figure seems to deny Li's supposed observation.

Or does he have a really late dinner or snacks after hours?

That's what we really want to know...

How Much did He Know?

Ling Wancheng (left) is the youngest brother of Ling Jihua (right)

There are conflicting reports on Ling Wancheng, younger brother of Ling Jihua, who was the former top aide to then Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Ling Jihua was expelled from the Communist Party of China last year and is expected to be tried for corruption and illegally obtaining state secrets. His career unraveled after his son was killed in a Ferrari crash in March 2012.

At the time it was strange that the crash was covered up almost immediately after it was initially reported because Ling Jihua reportedly mobilized staff from the Central Security Bureau to suppress reports of it and words like "Ferrari", "Little Ling" and "Prince Ling" were blocked.

Ling Jihua's son died in this fiery Ferrari crash in 2012

However eventually it was revealed that the 23-year-old man who died in the crash was Ling's son and questions arose as to how he was able to acquire such an expensive sports car. Even though Ling sough assistance from then powerful security czar Zhou Yongkang, both have lost politically, and the latter is now languishing in prison for the rest of his life.

Because Ling Jihua was so close to Hu, there were allegations that businessman Ling Wencheng defected to the United States and revealed state secrets to American intelligence officials. It is unclear how much information he would have known, but it is believed he profited handsomely from his family connections.

However, Ling Wancheng's lawyer has come out to deny revealing secrets like nuclear weapons codes and details about the Chinese leadership.

Ling Wancheng reportedly lives in this home in Sacramento

"My client frankly would like to be left alone so he can play more golf," said Washington lawyer Gregory Smith. "He is presently working on writing a book about golfing, and he hopes to share with others his golf secrets that literally can add 10-15 yards to anyone's drive off the tee."

Smith did not answer questions about whether Ling Wancheng was seeking asylum in the US.

There are also reports that top security official Meng Jianzhu had tried to negotiate Ling's return to China when he visited the US last September.

A book about golf, huh? We expect this upcoming tome to be a best seller...

The Vilification Begins

Ling Jihua now faces a string of possible corruption charges

Former Chinese President Hu Jintao's one-time top aide Ling Jihua is now being used for target practice by state media, as he was recently formally arrested and stripped of his Communist Party membership.

The 58-year-old is being prosecuted for alleged corruption, violating political rules, organizational discipline and failing to protect secrets of the Party and state.

An investigation into Ling already began in December, but now the Supreme People's Procuratorate will launch a criminal investigation into corruption allegations.

According to Xinhua, Ling apparently took large bribes and sought profits for his close friends and associates. He was also accused of illegally acquiring a large amount of "core secrets" of the Party and state.

However, as Hu's top aide, he would have access to confidential information, so it is unclear what this allegation means.

Xinhua also added Ling allegedly sought benefits for his wife, and that he traded his power for sex and had extramarital affairs with several women.

Nationalist paper Global Times was the most severe of the state media outlets, chastising Ling for destroying himself because of his hunger for power and greed.

His son's car crash that Ling tried to cover up

"The case of Ling is not simply about law and order violations, but also the unrestrained growth of greed and ambition of an elite and powerful person, which leads to distorted behaviour," the editorial said.

The Global Times added Ling ignored the power and influence of the internet, perhaps referring to the March 2012 car accident in which his son Ling Gu and two female passengers died in a Ferrari that crashed on one of Beijing's ring roads.

Ling Jihua tried to cover up the accident, getting special forces to take care of the incident instead of the police, and trying to scrub evidence from the internet, but was eventually found out, along with arranging for his other alleged misdeeds.

"He seemed to strongly believe that his power could enable him to 'cover the sky with one hand' [fool the public], however... he didn't realize that he was under close scrutiny," the editorial said. "He wasn't punished initially simply because it wasn't the appropriate time."

That's because his boss, Hu was going to step down later that year and perhaps the Party thought it would be too much attention focused on Ling when it should be on incoming President Xi Jinping.

As a result, Ling lost his chance to climb the upper echelons of power, and instead was relegated to a non important position with the long title of vice chairman of the national committee of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference, and head of the United Front Work Department.

At this point Ling can only go further into free fall if state media are given the green light to tar him further.

Having been expelled makes him completely vulnerable and his former boss cannot help him at all, nor would Hu want to be associated with him anymore.

It's a sad ending for a guy who tried to rise to the top by hitching a ride with his boss who was president of China. Too bad Ling's son smashed up his luxury sports car, ending his own political chances, otherwise Ling's destiny would be very different today.

Catching a Tiger

Zhou Yongkang was finally formally criminally charged today in Tianjin

After waiting for months, the big news out of China today was former security czar Zhou Yongkang being formally charged with corruption, abuse of power, and intentionally leaking state secrets.

The charges were laid by prosecutors in Tianjin, signally the Supreme People's Procuratorate has finished its investigation and that the case will be heard there.

Zhou has been accused of taking bribes during his tenures as the vice general manager of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, provincial Communist Party chief in Sichuan, head of the Ministry of Public Security, and as chief of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

"[Zhou's] abuse of power has led to great losses of public funds and has done severe damage to national and public interests, causing adverse social impact," the Supreme People's Procuratorate said in a statement.

There were no further details about the allegations Zhou had intentionally leaked state secrets.

It was last July that the authorities announced Zhou was under investigation for alleged abuse of power and corruption which was a big bombshell, and ever since, China watchers have been waiting for the next phase.

Ling Jihua tried to protect himself by covering up son's death

This is the first time in decades that the Communist Party of China has broken its convention of not prosecuting retired leaders for alleged wrongdoing.

He was a former member of the then nine-man Politburo Standing Committee, the group of top leaders who run China, and he oversaw the state's security system, including police and courts. Zhou retired in 2012.

Since he was expelled from the CPC in December, state media began piling on hints of his criminal prosecution, that he was also alleged to have "exchanged power and money for sex", and even People's Daily described Zhou as a "traitor" to the party.

The Supreme People's Court's annual work report released last month said Zhou had "undermined the party's solidarity and engaged in political activities [not approved by the authorities]", a rare accusation that some analysts suggest indicates that Zhou might also face charges for political offenses.

Bo Xilai was an ally of Zhou's and is now in prison for life

There has been a tightening of the circle around Zhou for a while, with many of his associates detained for alleged graft. One of them is probably Ling Jihua, who tried to cover up his 23-year-old son's death when his Ferrari crashed into a pillar on Beijing's 4th Ring Road back in 2012. Zhou was the one who tried to help Ling senior stop local police from investigating the incident.

Another Zhou associate, Jiang Jiemin, who was then chief executive of China National Petroleum Corporation, was also involved in the cover up, paying millions of dollars to the two victims' families to keep quiet about the crash.

Fallen leader Bo Xilai was also affiliated with Zhou, who tried to support the former party chief of Chongqing to the end. But it was too late and Bo is now serving a life sentence. There were also allegations that Zhou attempted a "coup d'etat" which may be brought up later in the trial.

There is no court date set yet, but at least for now the stage is set for a showdown between the state and Zhou in the court room.

The BBC tried to ask people on the street in Shanghai what they thought of the motivations behind Zhou being charged, but no one would dare speculate. They probably know, but don't want to tell a western reporter what appears to be a political system that's rotten to the core.

Will Zhou's legal charges result in the end of the purges in the senior ranks of the party? It's hard to say but it demonstrates how much rot there is in the system, but also how determined the party is to get rid of it...

More Official Drama

Rafael Hui has gone to prison for seven years for bribery

Ah the mighty have fallen and continue to fall.

Today former Hong Kong chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan was jailed for seven and a half years and pay back HK$11.182 million (the amount of bribes he was guilty of taking), while former co-chairman of SHKP Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong was sentenced to five years and a HK$500,000 fine for corruption and bribery.

These sentences seem awfully light for shaking the public's faith in the Hong Kong government, along with a HK$500,000 fine? That's chump change for Kwok. Was that the maximum sentence Justice Andrew Macrae could give both convicted defendants?

Interesting that Hui even asked his former boss ex-chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to write a referral letter pleading for Hui to get a lighter sentence considering all the good things he'd done for the city.

Hu Jintao's right-hand man, Ling Jihua now being probed

Surely everything Hui did as a civil servant prior to working for the Kwok brothers was completely wiped out by this scandal?

In any event, attention has now turned across the border with the announcement by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that Hu Jintao's former aide Ling Jihua will be investigated for "suspected serious disciplinary violations", which usually refers to corruption.

He will be the next tiger Chinese President Xi Jinping bags, after Zhou Yongkang and Xu Caihou, former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Ling was on his way climbing up the ladder of power when his son screwed it up for him on the night of March 19, 2012.

Ling Gu was in a fatal car accident when his Ferrari crashed into a wall on Beijing's North Fourth Ring Road before crushing a barrier on the other side of the road. Ling Gu was not fully dressed, nor were his two female companions, a lurid detail that has stuck with this story.

The wreckage of Ling Gu's Ferrari after a horrific crash

Ling requested the investigation into the accident not be handled by local police, but by the Central Guard Bureau, which oversees security of top leaders. This was his way of attempting to cover up the situation.

Pictures of the accident were put online by witnesses, but were soon deleted.

Then Ling got then chairman of state-run China National Petroleum Corporation Jiang Jiemin to pay tens of millions of yuan in compensation to the two women's families to keep quiet.

But the two large money transfers resulted in an investigation into the company as well as the link to Ling.

He was supposed to have been fast-tracked to become a member of the Politburo, but instead was transferred to a horizontal position as minister of the United Work Front, a mostly symbolic job.

However his time in purgatory was not enough -- even his open letters publicly praising Xi last week did not redeem him from being investigated.

Now it will be interesting to see what other things they uncover about Ling, particularly how his son was able to afford a Ferrari and maybe what did happen that night two years ago.

There are reports that Ling was a workaholic, but perhaps that was just a ruse to keep others from noticing what he managed to siphon off financially along the way.

How much did Hu know? And will he be a tiger Xi wants on his mantlepiece as well?

The drama unfolding here in real time is much more fascinating than anything TVB can cook up...

Fact of the Day: Corruption Perception

Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive has been going on for about two years now.

Ordinary folk are pleased to see their leader crack down on crooked officials and how much of their ill-gotten gains were confiscated by police. There are tales of bank notes that if placed one on top of the other would be 6 metres taller than Times Square in Causeway Bay, while others seem to have stuffed whatever they got into every nook and cranny of their homes.

The latest is that Ling Wancheng, brother of former president Hu Jintao's aide, Ling Jihua, is being investigated with another person nabbed who has connections to the former.

Li Liang, who was chief of the Investor Protection Bureau at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) was taken away and investigated for legal infringements and disciplinary violations.

So it looks like Xi and his anti-corruption czar, Wang Qishan are bagging a number of "tigers" as well as "flies".

However, according to Transparency International's 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, China doesn't seem to be making much of a dent in stomping out graft.

This year the anti-corruption watchdog gave China 36 out of 100 points, with 0 indicating a country perceived to be highly corrupt, and 100 that is perceived to be very clean.

The survey is based on local and international experts' opinions of public-sector corruption.

Incidentally China tied for 100th place out of 175 countries with Algeria and Suriname sharing 36 points.

Last year China's score was 40, and in 2012 it was 39.

Hong Kong is ranked 17th with a score of 74, but it was 75 the year before and 77 in 2012.

Demark is number one with 92 points, Singapore is 7th at 84, and Canada is 10th with 81. North Korea is last on the list tied with Somalia at a lowly score of 8.

According to this index, it is perceived that China's corruption is getting worse not better.

"The government has recognized the need to follow officials who hide ill-gotten gains overseas," says Transparency International's press release. "This January, leaked documents revealed 22,000 offshore clients from China and Hong Kong, including many of the country's leaders."

These include people related to former premier Wen Jiabao, as well as Xi, and wealthy elite like Yang Huiyan, who owns majority shares in Country Garden Holdings, as well as Soho China co-founder Zhangxin, and Ma Huateng, co-founder of Tencent.

How far will Xi's anti-corruption probe go? Will he rope in his own brother-in-law, Deng Jiagui, according to these leaked documents?

And with the over two-month-old Umbrella Movement, will Hong Kong's perception of corruption change much, now that the lid has pretty much been blown off on the collusion between developers and the government, as evidenced by the Rafael Hui/Kwok brothers court case?

We'll have to find out next year. Stay tuned.

Corruption Crackdown Continues

Jiang Jiemin is being investigated for corruption related to his time at CNPC

After the shocking announcement that former security czar Zhou Yongkang was being investigated, one of his proteges Jiang Jiemin is is being probed for "serious discipline violations", in other words, corruption.

Jiang is a director of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and former chairman of the country's largest oil company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

The 58-year-old was just appointed to the cabinet-level position in March.

It is believed the investigation into Jiang is to mine for information to be used against Zhou.

There are questions of why Jiang was elevated to the SASAC post when there were concerns about CNPC's role in trying to cover up the crash of a Ferrari on March 18 last year.

A $1million black Ferrari lost control on Beijing's North Third Ring Road and slammed into a wall. The driver, who died instantly, was Ling Gu, the only son of Ling Jihua, then chief of staff to then President Hu Jintao. He was in the car half naked, while two other women, one naked, the other half clothed succumbed to their injuries.

Ling Gu's Ferrari split into two after a crash in Beijing

Jiang raised eyebrows when he transferred tens of millions of yuan from CNPC to the families of the two women who were subsequently killed in the crash. Last year Jiang was questioned about this, why money from a state-owned company was funneled to two families, which he (as far as we know) had no relationship with.

But in the coming weeks and months, we will get to know more, as the infighting within the Party continues revealing more dirty details.

Bo Xilai's trial and now the investigations into Zhou Yongkang and Jiang Jiemin reveal how the patronage of senior officials is crucial in fast-tracking one's career, but if your mentor falls politically on the wrong side of the tracks, you can be eternally doomed with them.