Bo admits to ‘serious errors’ dealing with ex-police chief’s defection bid
Print Edition
Ex-Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai yesterday admitted to shaming China and poorly handling a defection attempt by his former police chief after he told Bo his wife had committed murder.
Bo faces charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power at the Jinan Intermediate People’s Court in eastern China’s Shandong Province.
The trial, which unexpectedly ran into a third day, will continue today, according to the court.
As police chief of Chongqing where Bo was serving the Party chief at the time, Wang Lijun fled to the US consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu in February last year after confronting Bo with evidence that his wife Bogu Kailai was involved in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood in November 2011.
After first helping Bogu evade suspicion of poisoning Heywood, Wang hushed up evidence of the murder, according to the official account of Wang’s trial. Bogu was sentenced to suspended death sentence for the murder last August, and Zhang Xiaojun, a family aide of the Bo’s, got nine years.
Wang was sentenced in September to 15 years in prison for “bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking.”
When Wang told Bo of his suspicions about Bogu, he was “angrily rebuked and had his ears boxed.”
Bo told the court that he felt “ashamed” by Wang’s flight to the US mission which had reflected badly on the image of the Party and country. “I wasn’t able to behave coolly at a critical juncture and I made serious errors in judgement,” Bo said, according to a transcript provided by the Jinan Intermediate People’s Court.
“So I bear some responsibility for Wang Lijun’s flight and I feel very sorry for this.
“I have made mistakes and errors, I feel very sorry and I’m willing to take appropriate responsibility, but whether there was a crime or not is another matter,” Bo said. “I did not act illegally to show favoritism and protect Bogu Kailai.”
Bo said he did not believe it when Wang told him Bogu was a suspect in Heywood’s murder, saying Bogu had shown him a Chongqing police report that said Heywood died of a heart attack bought on by drinking, which Heywood’s wife had signed.
“In my mind, Bogu Kailai is a weak and frail woman, she could not kill someone. And she had a good relationship with Wang Lijun,” Bo said.
Bo was accused of approving the release of false news that Wang was receiving “vacation-style treatment” around the time of his defection bid.
Bo denied sacking Wang because of the allegations against Bogu. Bo said Wang had complained to him over work pressure, but Wang denied having said so.
Wang himself appeared in court to testify against Bo, saying he believed Bo sacked him to cover up the murder, adding that Bo had punched him during a confrontation over Bogu’s role in the murder.
“It was very dangerous at that time,” Wang said, when asked why he had fled to the US consulate. “I was the victim of violence, and my colleagues and those handling the case had disappeared.”
Prosecutors, Bo and his lawyers cross-examined Wang for about 100 minutes.
Prosecutors have accused Bo of accepting bribes worth about 21.8 million yuan (US$3.5m) from Tang Xiaolin, general manager of Dalian International Development Co, and Xu Ming, chairman of Dalian Shide Group Co, and siphoning off 5 million yuan public funds from the Dalian government.
Bo has denied the bribery charges.
Bribery and embezzlement carry penalties of between 10 years and life imprisonment, or death in severe cases. The abuse of power charge could result in up to seven years’ imprisonment.
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