Beijing(CNN) Chinese prosecutors have charged Ling Jihua, a top aide to former President Hu Jintao, with accepting bribes, stealing state secrets and abusing power, paving way for a criminal trial, state news agency Xinhua reported Friday.
Ling, who once held a post that is often compared to the White House chief of staff, was arrested last summer after being expelled from the ruling Communist Party.
He is considered one of the biggest catches in President Xi Jinping's ongoing massive anti-corruption campaign. Xinhua gave no date for the trial.
Xi has vowed to eradicate official corruption, long a lightning rod for the Chinese public's discontent with the government.
'Ferrari crash'
Throughout the Hu years, Ling was seen accompanying the Chinese president on trips home and abroad, and became known as one of his most trusted advisers.
Ling's rising political fortune seemed to come to screeching halt, however, when his only son was reportedly killed in fiery car accident in Beijing in March 2012.
Juicy details on the "Ferrari crash" -- including reports of two scantily dressed female passengers -- as well as Ling's attempt to cover it up -- were widely reported by overseas Chinese media.
He was demoted in the summer of 2012, shortly before Hu handed power over to Xi.
China's corruption crackdown nets more victims
A Chinese court in the northern city of Tianjin sentenced a former vice minister of public security to 15 years in prison for corruption, state media reported Tuesday, January 12. Li Dongsheng, 60, was charged with taking almost 22 million yuan ($3.3 million) in bribes from 2007 to 2013. He was a protégé of disgraced former domestic security czar Zhou Yongkang, who was
sentenced to life in prison in June 2015 for corruption offenses.
Jiang Jiemin, who once headed China's biggest oil company, was handed a 16-year jail term for bribery, abuse of power and possessing assets from unidentified sources on October 12, 2015.
Li Chuncheng, a former high-ranking official in Sichuan province, was sentenced to 13 years in jail for bribery and abuse of power. Both Li and Jiang were reported to have close ties to Zhou Yongkang, the highest-ranking Chinese official to fall foul of President Xi Jinping's corruption campaign so far.
Communist Party investigators have accused Ling Jihua, 58, once a top aide to former President Hu Jintao, of accepting huge bribes, stealing party and state secrets, as well as keeping mistresses and trading power for sex.
China
sacked one of its top sporting officials on July 16 because he's under investigation over allegations of corruption. Xiao Tian has been removed from his post as the deputy director of the General Administration of Sport (GAS). He's also a vice chairman of China's national Olympic committee, and was often its public face.
Xu Caihou was the most senior military figure caught up in the corruption dragnet. However, the former People's Liberation Army general didn't face prosecution because of ill health and died of bladder cancer in March 2015. His rank was revoked after an investigation found he took bribes to facilitate promotions. Local media reports said the
general had so much cash stashed away at his home that it took a week to count, and 12 trucks to haul it away.
Liu Han, a mining tycoon found guilty of murder and running a "mafia-style" organization, wasn't strictly a corrupt official but his conviction shed light on his links to a top target of Xi's anti-corruption campaign -- Zhou Yongkang.
A former member of China's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee,
Zhou Yongkang is now serving a life sentence for corruption and other crimes. He was tried in secret in May 2015 and sentenced to life in prison in June. He's the highest ranking official to fall victim to Xi's graft crackdown.
Once a rising star of the Chinese Communist Party,
Bo Xilai fell from power in an explosive scandal involving murder, betrayal and financial skullduggery. Bo pleaded not guilty and challenged the prosecution's case in a rare public trial. He was jailed for taking bribes, embezzlement and abuse of power. His career unraveled after his wife, Gu Kailai, poisoned a British businessman, and his right-hand man, Wang Lijun, fled to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu.
In December 2014, the party's disciplinary arm announced a formal investigation into Ling over "serious violations of Party regulations," and he was soon stripped of his official titles.
In addition to allegedly committing adultery, which is not a crime in China, party investigators also accused Ling of abusing his position to help his wife's businesses.
Author: In China, everyone is guilty of corruption
CNN's Katie Hunt in Hong Kong contributed to this report