China's leadership faces fresh scandal over fatal Ferrari crash

A fresh scandal has hit China's leadership ahead of this autumn's once-a-decade transition of power, with reports that a close ally of president Hu Jintao has been blocked for promotion or even demoted following his son's involvement in a fatal Ferrari crash.

Photos of the horrific smash in Beijing were deleted within hours of appearing on microblogs and websites in March. Even searches for the word "Ferrari" were blocked on the popular Sina Weibo microblog – prompting widespread speculation that a senior leader's child was involved.

Now unnamed sources have identified the driver of the black sports car as the son of Ling Jihua, who was removed as head of the party's general office of the central committee this weekend, the South China Morning Post and Reuters reported.

State media announced Ling had been made head of the united front work department – an important role, but a sign that he is unlikely to win promotion to the Politburo as hoped, analysts said.

The high-speed crash has shed further light on the lifestyles of those around the Communist leadership. The party has already weathered the ousting of the ambitious politician Bo Xilai, and the conviction of his wife, Gu Kailai, for murdering British businessman Neil Heywood.

The exposure of the multimillion pound fortunes of Gu and Bo's family members, and subsequently of relatives of Hu's heir apparent, Xi Jinping, have added to embarrassment for the party.

The Post said that Ling's son, named Ling Gu and aged in his 20s, was killed in the crash and two young women seriously injured.

Sources quoted by Reuters said at least one of the trio died but that the victims' identities were unclear; one said the young man had survived.

Both quoted sources claiming the son's death certificate was altered to disguise his identity.

The Post alleged his surname was changed to "Jia": a homophone for "fake" in Chinese, but also the surname of another senior leader, Jia Qinglin, who was reportedly furious at rumours that his family might be involved and ordered an investigation.

Calls to Ling's new and former departments rang unanswered and the Beijing city government and police have declined to comment on the collision.

"The central leadership decided that the scandal over the incident was too serious to allow Ling Jihua to be promoted, and Hu Jintao really couldn't resist," a retired party official told Reuters.

A businesswoman with family ties to a senior leader told the agency that Ling, 55, had been criticised by leaders – including former president Jiang Zemin, who had opposed his promotion – for attempting to cover up the crash.

Analysts disagree over whether the move is a serious setback to Hu's efforts to retain influence in the next administration by promoting allies before he steps down. Ling's replacement Li Zhanshu, 61, came up through the Communist youth league – Hu's power base – but is seen as less close to the president and unlikely to be promoted.

"The united front department is not meaningless, but the General Office is a key position  … Ling has not been sidelined, but he has not been promoted," said Jean-Pierre Cabestan of Hong Kong Baptist University, saying it would be important to see whether he could keep his place in the central secretariat.

Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based political analyst, said: "My sense is that the shaking up of party ranks began some time ago and now we are seeing it become more high profile … I'm not a fan of the view that this [transition] is all institutionalised and there are no worries – I think we have seen over the last year that it is anything but institutionalised."

Following March's crash a state-run English language paper, Global Times, startled readers by accusing authorities of a cover up and hinting that the child of a high-ranking official was involved.

Some analysts suspect political players have deliberately leaked information amid the jockeying for position; and that details – such as a claim that the two young women were wholly or semi-naked – may have been embellished for maximum damage.

Steve Tsang, an expert on elite politics at the University of Nottingham, said it was not clear whether Ling himself had ordered the cover-up and that the reaction would probably have been similar if another senior official had been involved.

"It reflects so badly on the whole leadership and their privileges … It's not been a good year for the party in terms of reputation," he said.

But he added that most people in China would not learn about it and that if they did it would be "more a confirmation of their cynicism than a revelation of something odious".

Searches for the word Ferrari were possible again on Monday, but brought only innocuous results from sports car lovers.

Bo Xilai's son Bo Guagua has also been reported to have driven a red Ferrari, although he has denied ever doing so.

Such lavish lifestyles embarrass the party whoever is involved, added Cabestan.

"The Ferrari can be black or red; it doesn't matter," he said, echoing the famous Chinese maxim on reform that it does not matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.