Home Tags Posts tagged with "political scandal"
political scandal
Neil Heywood, the British businessman killed in China by Bo Xilai’s wife, had been providing information to the British secret service, the Wall Street Journal newspaper claims.
Neil Heywood had been communicating with an MI6 officer about top politician Bo Xilai for at least a year before he died, the paper said.
The UK Foreign Office said it would not comment “on intelligence matters”.
In April, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Neil Heywood was not a government employee “in any capacity”.
The case is at the heart of China’s biggest political scandal in decades.
The November 2011 death of Neil Heywood brought down Bo Xilai, the former Communist Party chief of Chongqing and a high-flier who was once tipped for top office.
Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, was jailed in August for the murder of Neil Heywood at a Chongqing hotel. His former police chief, Wang Lijun, has also been jailed in connection with the scandal.
Bo Xilai himself was expelled from parliament in September, stripping him of immunity from prosecution. He is accused of abuse of power, bribe-taking and violating party discipline, Chinese state media say, and is expected to go on trial in the future.
Ever since Neil Heywood’s death plunged China into political crisis, there have been claims the Briton may have been a spy.
Citing unnamed friends and British officials, the Wall Street Journal said that while Neil Heywood was not an MI6 employee, he had knowingly passed on information to the organization.
“The Journal investigation, based on interviews with current and former British officials and close friends of the murdered Briton, found that a person Mr. Heywood met in 2009 later acknowledged being an MI6 officer to him,” the Wall Street Journal says in its report.
“Mr. Heywood subsequently met that person regularly in China and continued to provide information on Mr. Bo’s private affairs.”
Neil Heywood’s relatives declined to comment, the paper added.
Neil Heywood had been communicating with an MI6 officer about top politician Bo Xilai for at least a year before he died
In a letter to a British MP on 26 April, William Hague addressed speculation over Neil Heywood, even as he said it was “long established government policy neither to confirm nor deny speculation of this sort”.
“However, given the intense interest in this case it is, exceptionally, appropriate… to confirm that Mr. Heywood was not an employee of the British government in any capacity,” he said.
The newspaper, citing unidentified sources, says this was technically true because Neil Heywood was not paid for his information.
But there are new questions about why, if Neil Heywood was known to Britain’s intelligence services, British officials did not press their Chinese counterparts for a thorough investigation as soon as they knew he had died.
Neil Heywood, 41, had lived in China from the early 1990s, where he learned fluent Mandarin.
The nature of his association with Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai is not clear, but he has been described in some reports as a financial middleman. Chinese state media say Gu Kailai killed him over a business deal that went sour.
The case first came to light when police chief Wang Lijun fled to the US consulate in February, reportedly after falling out with Bo Xilai over the Heywood case.
Chinese officials subsequently ordered that an investigation into Neil Heywood’s death be reopened. Police had originally said he died of over-consumption of alcohol.
Five senior police officers in Chongqing have also been jailed, Chinese state media say, for covering up the case.
Wang Lijun, the ex-police chief at the heart of China’s biggest political scandal in years, has been sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Wang Lijun was jailed for ”bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and bribetaking”, Xinhua said.
His flight in February to a US consulate led to the downfall of his ex-boss, top politician Bo Xilai.
Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, was convicted in August of killing British businessman Neil Heywood. Wang Lijun was accused of helping in a cover-up.
Wang Lijun – the former chief of police in the city of Chongqing, where Bo Xilai was Communist Party leader – had faced up to 20 years in jail, but prosecutors called his co-operation “meritorious service”.
The ”combined term” of 15 years in prison included nine years for bribery, seven for bending the law, two for defection and two for abuse of power, state television reported.
Wang Lijun has been sentenced to 15 years in jail
”We decided to sentence him to 15 years altogether on all the four charges and deprive [him of] his political rights for one year,” court spokesman Yang Yuquan told reporters.
”Wang Lijun said he wouldn’t appeal after hearing the verdict,” Yang Yuquan said.
The verdict was ”in accordance with the law”, he added, saying three of Wang Lijun’s relatives were at the hearing.
Wang’s lawyer, Wang Yuncai, also told the Associated Press that the sentence was ”considered normal” under Chinese law.
The verdict comes as China prepares to select new leaders in coming weeks.
It is due to hold a party congress that will see major changes in the top echelons of leadership, although specific dates have not been announced.
Wang’s trial took place last week in Chengdu. A court official said after the two-day hearing that he had not contested the charges.
The indictment against Wang said he knew that Gu Kailai was a murder suspect.
Wang Lijun, however, ”bent the law” by appointing Guo Weiguo – the deputy chief of Chongqing’s Public Security Bureau and ”a close friend” of both Wang and Gu – to oversee the case , a Xinhua report said.
Wang Lijun hid a recording of Gu Kailai’s account of the killing from the police, the report added.
But conflict arose between Wang Lijun and Gu Kailai, after which Wang told investigators to ”re-collect, sort through and carefully keep the evidence” from the case, the report said.
During his term in Chongqing Wang had also committed other offences, including illegally releasing four suspects in return for property and money totaling more than 3 million yuan ($476,000), Xinhua said.
Gu Kailai was given a suspended death sentence for the crime. At a separate trial on 10 August, four senior police officers from Chongqing admitted covering up evidence linking her to the murder and were jailed for between five and 11 years.
Bo Xilai has not been seen in public since the scandal erupted and is said to be under investigation by the Communist party’s disciplinary officials. He has been removed from his official posts.
But it is not known whether the former party chief – who was tipped for promotion to the top ranks before his downfall – will face criminal charges himself.
At Wang Lijun’s trial last week, Bo Xilai was said to have reacted with anger when the police chief told him of his wife’s involvement in the murder of Neil Heywood, “boxing the ears” of his former ally.
Bo Xilai’s populist brand of politics – an authoritarian crackdown on corruption coupled with the promotion of old communist values – is said to have made him enemies.
They may be pushing for a criminal trial that removes him from the political landscape for a very long time.
[youtube ccbAUPpj2Dk]
The trial of ex-police chief Wang Lijun, who was at the heart of China’s biggest political scandal in years, has resumed, after it began in secret on Monday.
Wang Lijun is charged with defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking.
The trial was due to begin Tuesday but began earlier, unannounced, at a court in the southern city of Chengdu.
Wang Lijun’s flight to the US consulate in the city in February triggered events leading to the downfall of powerful politician Bo Xilai.
On the second day of the hearing, foreign journalists will not be given access to the public part of the trial.
The trial had been expected to start on Tuesday, but Wang Lijun’s lawyer Wang Yuncai, who is not related to her client, said the hearing had started at 08:30 local time on Monday.
The trial of ex-police chief Wang Lijun has resumed, after it began in secret on Monday
A brief report in state media said Wang Lijun is standing trial for ”bribe-taking and bending the law for selfish ends” on Tuesday.
”The Chengdu City Intermediate People’s Court held a closed-door trial Monday on Wang’s two other charges of defection and abuse of power,” the Xinhua news agency report said.
On Tuesday, security officials stood guard outside the court.
It is not clear how long Wang Lijun’s trial will last but that of Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, lasted a day.
According to the UK Foreign Office, Wang Lijun made allegations about Neil Heywood’s death while at the US consulate.
Shortly afterwards, Bo Xilai was sacked and Gu Kailai was accused and convicted of the murder of Neil Heywood and given a suspended death sentence.
Chinese media has been quiet on the trial and searches for Wang Lijun’s name and related terms have mostly been blocked on China’s Twitter-like weibo microblogs.
However, netizens have been using pseudonyms such as “head nurse” – a term that puns on ”deputy mayor” in Chinese – to make comments. Wang Lijun was the deputy mayor of Chongqing.
A microblog user in Guangzhou said: “Good luck, head nurse.”
“There should be a public holiday today, and the head nurse’s trial should be broadcast live on TV so people can have a chance to learn what is the rule of law,” said a microblog user in southern Zhuhai city.
The trial is taking place ahead of a key party leadership congress in China, expected in the coming weeks.
Earlier Chinese state media reports said the evidence against Wang Lijun was “concrete and abundant”.
The indictment against him said he knew that Gu Kailai was a murder suspect, but “consciously neglected his duty and bent the law for personal gain”, Xinhua news agency reported.
Wangn Lijun’s flight to the US consulate had proved an embarrassment for China and threw up issues involving diplomacy and state secrets, analysts say.
But most analysts expect him to be given a suspended death sentence, similar to the one meted out to Gu Kailai, reports say.
At a separate trial on 10 August, four senior police officers from Chongqing admitted to charges of covering up evidence linking Gu to the murder. A court official said they had been given terms of between five and 11 years in prison, AFP reported.
Bo Xilai, Wang Lijun’s former boss in Chongqing, had been tipped for promotion to the top leadership ranks at the party congress before his downfall.
He has not been seen in public since the scandal erupted. He is said to be under investigation by the party’s disciplinary officials.
Wang Lijun, 52, began his career in law enforcement in the Inner Mongolia Region in 1984 and moved to the southwestern city of Chongqing in 2008.
He had a reputation for being tough on organized crime and was once the subject of a TV drama called Iron-Blooded Police Spirits.
[youtube NUySOPQb3bg]
[youtube B_PD_HOGpnE]
Wang Lijun, the former police chief at the centre of China’s biggest political scandal in years, will be tried in Chengdu next Tuesday, a Chinese court official said.
Wang Lijun is charged with defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking.
He triggered events leading to the downfall of powerful politician Bo Xilai when he briefly fled to a US consulate in February.
Bo Xilai’s wife has since been given a suspended death sentence for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
“Wang Lijun’s case will be heard on 18 September,” an official at the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court who was only identified by his surname, He, told reporters.
Wang Lijun will be tried in Chengdu next Tuesday
An earlier state media report said that the evidence against Wang Lijun was “concrete and abundant”.
The indictment against him said he knew that Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, was a murder suspect, but “consciously neglected his duty and bent the law for personal gain”, Xinhua news agency reported.
One report said the trial, which comes with China expected to hold its key party leadership congress in coming weeks, would last one day.
Bo Xilai, Wang Lijun’s former boss in Chongqing, had been tipped for promotion to the top leadership ranks at the party congress before his downfall.
He has not been seen in public since the scandal erupted. He is said to be under investigation by the party’s disciplinary officials.
Wang Lijun was seen as a loyal lieutenant of Bo Xilai, but in early February the Chongqing city government said Wang had been shifted to another job.
Four days later, he fled to the US consulate in nearby Chengdu, where many believe he sought asylum. He spent the night there but was persuaded to leave a day later. He gave himself up to police and has been in detention since then.
According to the UK Foreign Office, Wang Lijun made allegations about Neil Heywood’s death while at the consulate.
Shortly afterwards, Bo Xilai was sacked and his wife Gu Kailai was accused and later convicted of murdering Neil Heywood. Gu Kailai’s trial last month took only a day.
Wang Lijun, 52 began his career in law enforcement in the Inner Mongolia Region in 1984 and moved to the southwestern city of Chongqing in 2008.
He had a reputation for being tough on organized crime and was once the subject of a TV drama called Iron-Blooded Police Spirits.
Wang Lijun, former police chief at the centre of China’s biggest political scandal for years, has been charged with a number of offences, Chinese state media says.
Wang Lijun is charged with defection, abuse of power, and bribe-taking.
Wang Lijun is charged with defection, abuse of power, and bribe-taking
He briefly fled to a US consulate in February, triggering a series of events that led to the downfall of the powerful politician Bo Xilai.
Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, has since been given a suspended death sentence for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Bo Xilai had been tipped for promotion to China’s highest leadership this year.
Wang Lijun was the former police chief of the south-western Chinese city of Chongqing and had a reputation for being tough on organized crime.
In early February, the Chongqing city government said Wang Lijun had been shifted to another job.
Four days later, he fled to the US consulate in Chengdu, near Chongqing, where many believe he sought asylum.
He spent the night there but was persuaded to leave a day later. He gave himself up to police and has been in detention since then.
According to the UK Foreign Office, Wang Lijun made allegations about Neil Heywood’s death while at the consulate.
Shortly afterwards, Bo Xilai was sacked as Chongqing’s Communist party chief, and his wife Gu Kailai was accused and later convicted of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood.
The charges against Wang Lijun appear to be an attempt to bring the scandal to an end before China embarks on a change of leadership later this year.
Wang Lijun
- 52-year-old former deputy mayor and police chief of Chongqing in south-west China
- Closely identified with the former chief of Chongqing Communist Party, Bo Xilai
- Developed a reputation for being tough on organized crime
- Started his career in law enforcement in 1984 in the Inner Mongolia region; moved to Chongqing in 2008
- Was the subject of a TV drama Iron-Blooded Police Spirits
Li Xueming, also known as Bo Xiyong, Bo Xilai’s elder brother, has quit the board of China Everbright International, a Hong Kong-listed company.
Everbright said that Vice-Chairman Li Xueming had resigned to minimize any adverse impact on the company of media reports on his family background.
Bo Xilai’s removal has become China’s biggest political scandal in years.
“The board would like to take this opportunity to clarify that recent reports by the media on Mr. Li’s family background have no relationship with the normal business and operations of the company,” Everbright said in the statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
“Mr. Li has demonstrated dedication and diligence in serving the company during his tenure of directorship,” it said.
Li Xueming, also known as Bo Xiyong, Bo Xilai’s elder brother, has quit the board of China Everbright International
Bo Xilai, once tipped for China’s highest office, was removed from his role as Chongqing party secretary in March and suspended from all political office in April.
He is being investigated for “serious discipline violations”, Chinese authorities announced on 10 April and his wife, Gu Kailai, is being investigated in connection with the death of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Since then the lifestyle and political and business dealings of Bo Xilai and his family have come under intense media scrutiny.
According to its website, China Everbright International focuses on alternative energy and waste management.
Bo Guagua, the son of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, has defended his lifestyle in an open letter to his university.
In the letter to the Harvard Crimson, Bo Guagua said he was “deeply concerned” about his family.
Bo Guagua, 24, denied he was a bad student, citing his grades, and set out how his education had been funded.
The whereabouts of his father are unknown and his mother is being investigated in connection with the death of British national Neil Heywood.
The removal of Bo Xilai, who was once tipped for China’s highest office, has become the country’s biggest political scandal in years.
Since Chinese authorities announced he had been sacked from his political positions earlier this month a stream of reports concerning him and his family have emerged.
Bo Guagua pictured with his father Bo Xilai and his mother Gu Kailai
Some reports have focused on the reportedly extravagant and well-funded lifestyle of his son, Bo Guagua, who is currently studying at Harvard University after completing his degree at Oxford.
Since the allegations against his family emerged, Bo Guagua has kept a low profile. But in the letter published on Tuesday on the Harvard Crimson website, he said he wanted to address recent media reports.
“I am deeply concerned about the events surrounding my family, but I have no comments to make regarding the ongoing investigation,” Bo Guagua wrote.
“It is impossible to address all of the rumors and allegations about myself, but I will state the facts regarding some of the most pertinent claims.”
His education, Bo Guagua said, had been funded by scholarships and his mother’s earnings as a lawyer. His grades, which he cited, had earned him his university places.
While at Oxford University he had taken part in social events and extra-curricular activities – but these were a “regular feature of social life” at university.
In China, Bo Guagua said, he had never participated in a for-profit business. And he did not drive a Ferrari, he said, addressing a specific claim.
The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Bo Guagua had arrived at then US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman’s residence to pick up his daughter in a red Ferrari.
“I understand that at the present, the public interest in my life has not diminished,” Bo Guagua said.
“However, I wholeheartedly request that members of the press kindly refrain from intruding into the lives of my teachers, friends and classmates.”
Benjamin Samuels, president of Harvard Crimson, said the statement came from Bo Guagua’s Harvard’s Kennedy School e-mail address, and that the team had then spoken to him via telephone to verify the statement was his.
Allegations against his parents emerged earlier this year after Chongqing’s police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to the US consulate in an apparent bid to seek asylum.
Chinese state media said Wang Lijun, who was once Bo Xilai’s right-hand man, had information concerning the death of British businessman Neil Heywood, who died in a Chongqing hotel in November 2011.
Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, is now being investigated in connection with the case, amid unconfirmed media reports that Neil Heywood was poisoned.
Bo Xilai has not been seen since his sacking was announced. It comes with China due to begin its once-in-a-decade leadership change in October.
Boxun.com, the US-based Chinese-language website that has reported extensively on the Bo Xilai scandal in China, says it was crippled for several hours by a concerted hacking attack.
The Boxun website had to move to a new webhost after the denial-of-service attack on Friday, its manager said.
Boxun has reported for several weeks on the scandal surrounding Bo Xilai.
Bo Xilai was removed from key political posts as his wife was investigated for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Boxun’s original webhost, Name.com, told the Associated Press news agency that the hack was one of the biggest in the company’s history.
It reportedly followed an emailed threat that it would be attacked if it did not disable the site.
Boxun has reported for several weeks on the scandal surrounding Bo Xilai
It is not clear who launched the attacks, but the manager of Boxun.com, Watson Meng, was quoted as saying he believed they were ordered by China’s security services.
A denial-of-service attack involves hackers paralyzing a website by bombarding it with enquiries.
Boxun.com, based in North Carolina, was set up 12 years ago by Watson Meng to campaign for human rights and democracy in China.
It has published a stream of reports and allegations about the fate of Bo Xilai, the politician at the centre of China’s biggest political scandal in years.
Bo Xilai was sacked as Communist Party boss of the south-western city of Chongqing, and suspended from other key political posts, amid an official investigation into corruption and allegations that his wife was involved in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Neil Heywood was found dead in Chongqing in November 2011.
China routinely blocks web content that it deems inappropriate, but reports on Boxun are often repeated on micro-blogging sites in China by people who use software to circumvent internet restrictions.
With more than half a billion internet users, China is finding it increasingly difficult to control the flow of information.
Chinese authorities have stressed that their investigation into Bo Xilai and his family is purely a legal matter.
Robert Redford will produce a documentary about Watergate, more than 30 years after appearing in a film about the US political scandal.
Robert Redford, 75, played journalist Bob Woodward in the 1976 movie All the President’s Men, whose uncovering of the scandal lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
The actor told the New York Times it was the “right time to take a look at this moment in history”.
The documentary will premiere in 2013.
As well as producing All The President’s Men Revisited, Robert Redford will also act as narrator.
Robert Redford will produce a documentary about Watergate
The controversy that surrounded the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, prompted President Richard Nixon to resign in 1974.
Washington Post reporters Woodward and Carl Bernstein – portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film – played a key role in uncovering the scandal, which was traced back to members of a Nixon-support group.
The 1976 film was nominated for four Oscars, winning four including one for screenwriter William Goldman.
The new documentary has been commissioned by the Discovery Channel and will explore the effect the scandal has had on US politics and the media in the four decades since.
“To be able to pull the fabricated and the real together, for the first time, is kind of a juicy opportunity for us,” Eileen O’Neill, the president of Discovery, said.
Last week, Robert Redford said he believed documentaries have replaced newspapers as the media’s main source of investigative journalism.
Robert Redford also said he thought papers were in “steep decline” and documentaries have become “a better form of truth”.
