China charges former leader’s wife with murder

The wife of Bo Xilai, the former political leader whose downfall sent shockwaves through China, has been charged with murdering a British businessman, state news agency Xinhua said yesterday.

Gu Kailai, a former international lawyer whose husband was one of China’s most promising political leaders until his dramatic fall from grace this year, will face trial for intentional homicide, Xinhua reported in a brief dispatch.

Zhang Xiaojun, previously described as an orderly who worked for the high-flying couple, will also be prosecuted on the same charge, it said, citing authorities.

Xinhua said there was “irrefutable and substantial” evidence that the pair had poisoned Neil Heywood, a British businessman who had commercial dealings with Mr Bo and his wife.

“Investigation results show that Bogu Kailai, one of the defendants, and her son surnamed Bo had conflicts with the British citizen Neil Heywood over economic interests,” said Xinhua, using Ms Gu’s married name.

“Worrying about Neil Heywood’s threat to her son’s personal security, Bogu Kailai along with Zhang Xiaojun, the other defendant, poisoned Neil Heywood to death.”

Little is known about the nature of Mr Heywood’s relationship with the couple’s son Bo Guagua, although he is reported to have helped secure a place for him at Harrow, the exclusive British school that Mr Heywood himself attended. The younger Bo recently graduated from Harvard.

Mr Heywood’s death in a Chinese hotel room last November wasinitially blamed on excessive alcohol consumption.

Ms Gu and Mr Zhang have been interrogated and will be tried at a court in Hefei “on a day to be decided”, Xinhua said, adding that their families had been informed.

If convicted, Ms Gu faces the death penalty, although this is often commuted in the case of high-profile defendants. The scandal, which first came to light in February, has sent shockwaves through the highest echelons of power in China and led to Mr Bo being sacked from his post as Communist Party leader of the megacity of Chongqing.

Mr Bo, the son of a revered Communist revolutionary, had earned a national profile with a draconian crackdown on criminal elements in Chongqing and a “red revival” campaign marked by the mass singing of old Maoist-era songs.

But the rapid unravelling of his fortunes has exposed a harsh factional reaction against the charismatic and ambitious leader, and the affair has been seen as a huge embarrassment for the party.