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Flies and Tigers | 抓蝇打虎

Bo on trial for taking bribes, abuse of power
薄熙来案开庭审理

Source: Agencies | August 23, 2013, Friday | Print Edition

Prosecutors accused Bo Xilai of using his wife Bogu Kailai and son Bo Guagua as intermediaries as he netted more than US$4 million in corrupt gains when the disgraced former member of the Party’s Political Bureau stood trial yesterday.

Bo, the 64-year-old former Party chief of Chongqing, is charged with bribery, corruption and abuse of power.

Bo is charged with abusing his political powers to cover up his wife’s murder of British businessman Neil Heywood in 2011, according to the microblog account of the Jinan Intermediate People’s Court in eastern China.

A picture posted online by the court showed Bo standing in the dock wearing an open-necked white shirt and looking pensive, his hands crossed in front of him.

Prosecutors gave new details of the allegations against Bo and his family, including accusations that Bo used both his wife and son as intermediaries in accepting more than US$3 million in bribes while mayor of the northeastern city of Dalian, governor of Liaoning Province and minister of commerce. Bo also embezzled 5 million yuan (US$816,000) from a government project in Dalian, the court said.

Bo was charged with receiving about 21.8 million yuan in bribes from Xu Ming, a plastics-to-property entrepreneur who is a close friend, and Tang Xiaolin, general manager of Hong Kong-based export company Dalian International Development Ltd. Bo received the bribes through his wife and son, the court said.

But Bo denied accepting more than 1.1 million yuan in bribes from Tang, saying he had “confessed against his will” while under investigation by the Party’s disciplinary body. Tang, he said, was “utterly corrupt and a liar,” countering that the businessman himself had committed “major crimes” of embezzlement and bribery.

“He’s simply trying to get his punishment reduced,” Bo said. “That’s why he bites around like a mad dog.”

The judge told him: “Defendant, the court reminds you that you can’t use language slandering the dignity of the witness.”

Bo also denied accusations he accepted money and gifts worth 20.7 million yuan — including a villa in southern France — from Xu, chairman of private conglomerate Shide Group, calling them “untrue.”

Some of the funds from Xu and Tang were given to Bo’s wife and son, the court said.

Written evidence from Bogu was provided to the court in which she said she had seen a large amount of cash in safes at two of their residences, money which matched the amount allegedly given to Bo by Tang.

Calling her testimony “comical, very funny,” Bo also questioned Bogu’s suitability as a witness, saying she was a convicted killer with a history of mental illness. But in further questions he chose more gentle words in describing his wife as “a person of culture and taste, a woman of modern thinking.”

Bo’s trial will last for two days and the verdict is likely to be in early September, China Central Television said.

 

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