He obtained a large number of state secrets and the crimes were very serious. The party announced its investigation into the former aide, Ling Jihua, in December 2014. A government spokesman denied last year that Hu was being implicated in the investigation, and sources have told Reuters that Hu approved of the case against Ling. Their deceased son, Ling Gu, was briefly mentioned as also having taken bribes – crimes the court said his father was aware of but did nothing about. “I accept all the charges and submit to the judgment,” Ling was quoted as saying in his final statement.

Source: The Guardian July 04, 2016 12:31 UTC