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Jun Mai

In the biggest case of its kind this year, Ling Jihua, the one-time high-flying aide to former president Hu Jintao, was exposed as part of a corrupt web of businessmen and politicians reaching across the nation’s north, east and southeast.
Yet there was no mention of the web extending into coal-rich Shanxi, where Ling spent the first 23 years of his life.
Ling, 59, was sentenced to life in prison for taking more than 77 million yuan (HK$89 million) in bribes, illegally obtaining state ­secrets and abuse of power, state media reported on Monday.
In the secret trial heard on June 7 in the Tianjin No 1 Intermediate People’s Court, Ling was accused of taking bribes from businessmen and officials from Sichuan, Yunnan , Zhejiang, Beijing and Inner Mongolia.
Ling Jihua, former Chinese presidential aide, sentenced to life in prison
But state media reports made no mention of the “Shanxi Gang”, of which Ling was believed to have been the leader.
State media have accused Ling of “forming a separate political faction” referred to as the “Shanxi Gang”.
The gang reportedly includes cadres in or originally from the province, according to unconfirmed ­reports.

Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference spokesman Lu Xinghua mentioned the faction last year, saying it was one of the reasons Ling came under investigation.
“There has been talk of the ­Xishan group [a faction of Beijing-based Shanxi officials]. It is something that has been spreading online, but right now it is only speculation,” Lu said last year.
There was also no mention on Monday of Ling’s elder brother, Ling Zhengce, who was a vice-director of Shanxi’s top political advisory body before he came under investigation for corruption in June 2014.
‘Tigers’ on trial: the striking parallels in the prosecutions of an ex-presidential aide, former security tsar and Chongqing party boss
Ling Zhengce is among a handful of senior provincial cadres netted for graft over the past three years in what the Communist Party has called a “landslide” of corruption at the top in Shanxi.
Ling Jihua, then vice-chairman of the country’s top political advisory body, came under investigation about six months after his brother.
Analysts said the omission of any reference to Ling Zhengce in the verdict pointed to mutual compromises between Ling Jihua and the party.
Exclusive: How crash cover-up threatens career of Hu’s top aide
“The party did not hype up his case like it did with [former Chongqing party boss] Bo Xilai and [former security tsar] Zhou Yongkang,” said Chen Daoyin, associate professor with Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.
“I believe it’s an intended omission … because Ling was too close to the former president.”
Beijing-based political commentator Zhang Lifan said that like Zhou, Ling said he would not appeal and expressed regret to the court.
“It was the same with Zhou Yongkang,” Zhang said. “The fate of his relatives could be part of such a deal.”
State media reports on Monday about Ling’s life sentence were also silent about his younger brother, Ling Wancheng.
Brother of disgraced Chinese presidential aide Ling Jihua is sharing golf secrets in US – not state secrets: lawyer
The younger brother, who is in the United States, could have added to Ling Jihua’s bargaining chips, Zhang added.
The younger brother has denied reports suggesting that he passed China’s top secrets to the Americans.

Ling Jihua was found guilty of illegally obtaining state secrets, rather than leaking them. This contrasted with the case of another “tiger”, former security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who was last year jailed for leaking state secrets, among other crimes.
Ling’s act of illegally obtaining state secrets had “severely damaged China’s system of classified information”, according to a state media report.


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Ling Jihua

Missing Lings: Chinese state media silent on ex-presidential aide Ling Jihua’s brothers and  ‘Shanxi Gang’ ties

Ling Jihua reads his guilty plea in court. Photo: CCTV

Ling Zhengce, an elder brother of Ling Jihua (Handout)

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State media reports of Ling Jihua’s trial do not mention the faction he was thought to head
