A top aide of former Chinese President Hu Jintao is under probe for alleged "serious disciplinary violation", state media reported today, becoming the latest top Communist Party leader to face graft charges.
Ling Jihua, head of the ruling Communist Party's United Front Work Department, is under investigation for "suspected serious disciplinary violation", Xinhua news agency reported, without giving further details.
The authorities said the 58-year-old leader was being investigated for disciplinary violations, which usually refers to corruption.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the anti-graft body, announced the investigation in a brief statement today.
Ling, who was personal aide to Hu, found himself in the media spotlight and mired in controversy after his son Ling Gu died after crashing a Ferrari in Beijing with two nude or half-dressed women in March 2012.
Ling was accused of covering up the scandal.
The accident, which occurred just three days after another top party official Bo Xilai was sacked as Chongqing party chief, triggered the downfall of Ling and his allies,
Many of Ling's other associates and relatives, including another brother Ling Zhengce, are also being investigated for graft.
Several senior Chinese officials including some of the top Generals of the Chinese military have been held for corruption in the anti-graft campaign initiated by President Xi Jinping in the last one year.
Zhou Yongkang, an ex-security czar and one of China's powerful leaders in the previous Hu's regime, was arrested and expelled from the party earlier this month on charges ranging from corruption, adultery to leaking state secrets.
Zhou was the ninth-ranking member in the nine-member Standing Committee of the CPC headed by former President Hu.
