How son’s death in a high-speed car crash led to powerful Chinese official’s fall from grace
Ling Jihua, former aide to Hu Jintao, was tipped as one of China's future leaders until claims surfaced of a cover-up over son's fatal road crash
His name means "planning", but being investigated for alleged corruption was likely the last thing one-time Communist Party stalwart administrator Ling Jihua had on his to-do list.
As the personal aide to former president Hu Jintao, Ling was in the constellation of rising stars groomed as one of the sixth generation of leaders to succeed President Xi Jinping's administration in a decade.
Yet on March 19, 2012, his world came crashing down. That fateful night a 5million yuan (HK$6.3 million) speeding Ferrari sports car rammed into a wall on Beijing's North Fourth Ring Road, then crushed a railing on the other side of the road. Two young women, one naked and the other semi-naked, were seriously injured. The driver, a young man, half naked, died instantly. He was Ling's son, Ling Gu.
The accident set in motion events that would lead to Ling Jihua's fall from grace.
After months of trying to avoid being caught in the dragnet - including penning a piece heaping praise on President Xi Jinping as recently as last week - the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a brief statement late on Monday that 58-year-old Ling had been placed under investigation.
His fall, unlike his rise, was slow, steady, but sure. Before November 2011, Ling was chief of the secretive General Office of the Communist Party's Central Committee and Hu's personal secretary. It made him one of China's most powerful, yet probably least well-known, officials.