China’s anti-graft campaign ratchets up in Shanxi province

China's anti-corruption squad has intensified its crackdown in the coalmining province of Shanxi with the arrest of Ling Zhengce, brother of ex-president Hu Jintao's disgraced aide Ling Jihua.

Mr Ling, formerly vice-chairman of the Shanxi provincial wing of the consultative body the CPPCC, has been arrested alongside two other senior officials, Chen Chuanping and Sun Hongzhi, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said.

All of the suspects are allegedly linked to the “Xishan Society” or the “Shanxi Gang”, a secret brotherhood of prominent politicians and businessmen from Shanxi. The northern province has been riding high on the back of a resources boom and has been in the cross-hairs of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign since 2012.

Vice-premier Ma Kai has described corruption in Shanxi as like a “tumour”.

The charge sheet against Mr Ling was textbook stuff for the corruption investigation run by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), which said he abused his position in the consultative body and as head of Shanxi’s top planning body to obtain benefits for other people.

“Ling Zhengce’s behaviour interfered with and hindered organisational investigation,” the CDDI said in a statement on its website. “Ling should be held criminally responsible in accordance with the law.”

He will be tried in the city of Changzhou in the eastern province of Jiangsu.

Ling Zhengce is the elder brother of Ling Jihua, who became one of the most high-profile targets of Mr Xi's crackdown when he was jailed for life for corruption and stealing state secrets in July. In 2012, Mr Ling's son Ling Gu died in a Ferrari crash, along with two half-naked young women, causing major embarrassment to the Communist Party.

Mr Ling’s close links to former president Mr Hu meant the whole affair had to be handled cautiously to avoid sparking a faction fight.

A third brother, Ling Wancheng, is a fugitive in the United States and Chinese authorities are keen to have him sent back to China.

In all, seven provincial-level government officials and dozens of lower-level cadres from Shanxi have been detained in corruption investigations.

In March, a deputy mayor in Shanxi took 644 million yuan (€86 million) in bribes, which was more than the combined fiscal revenues of the provinces’ nine poorest counties.

Elsewhere, Yao Zhongmin, a former executive of China's top development bank, has been kicked out of the Communist Party for abuse of power, including influence-peddling involving money and sex.

Mr Yao had also been a one-time board member at the energy giant Sinopec Corp, which has been targeted by graft investigators and had strong links to now-jailed former security tsar Zhou Yongkang.