Murder at Center of Chinese Scandal That Tarred Official [View all]

[dipsydoodle]

Source: NYT

BEIJING — Bo Xilai, a high-ranking Communist Party official, was stripped of his most powerful posts on Tuesday, and the authorities said his wife was being held in connection with what they called the suspected murder of a British businessman, the latest revelations in a political scandal that has rocked China’s leadership.

Mr. Bo, who had already lost his post as chief of the metropolitan region of Chongqing, was suspended from the Politburo, the 25-member body that runs China, and removed from the Central Committee, the government announced. The move formally ended the political career of Mr. Bo, who as recently as March was viewed as likely to assume one of the top nine posts in the leadership.

China also announced late Tuesday night that Mr. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, a lawyer, was being investigated along with a member of their household staff in the November death of Neil Heywood, a British businessman who had close ties to the Bo family.

Mr. Heywood was found dead in his hotel room in Chongqinq, and officials there issued a death certificate stating that the cause was alcohol poisoning. His relatives said the body was cremated without an autopsy. But officials now believe he was the victim of an “intentional homicide,” China’s official Xinhua news agency said. A spokesman for Britain’s Foreign Office said that officials were unable to comment as they were in meetings to discuss the matter. Xinhua said Mr. Heywood, Ms. Gu and her son, Bo Guagua, had had close relations but later had “a conflict over economic interests.” The agency did not specify the suspected cause of death. It said Ms. Gu and Zhang Xiaojun, described as an “orderly” working in Mr. Bo’s home, were the prime suspects in the case.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/world/asia/detained-party-official-facing-ouster-from-politburo.html