MCLC: Gu Kailai "has confessed"

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Gu Kailai "has confessed"
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Source: The Guardian (6/22/12):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/22/bo-xilai-wife-confess-neil-heyw
ood

Bo Xilai wife 'has confessed' to Neil Heywood killing
Japan's Asahi Shimbun reports that Gu Kailai admitted to killing Neil
Heywood to stop him revealing her illicit money transfers
By Tania Branigan in Beijing

Investigators have said that the wife of the disgraced Chinese politician
Bo Xilai has confessed to killing the British businessman Neil Heywood,
according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.

Gu Kailai was detained because she was "highly suspected" of killing
Heywood following a row over an unspecified financial conflict, according
to official reports. A family employee, Zhang Xiaojun, is also being held.

It would be extremely rare for such a high-profile and politically
well-connected figure not to be tried after being publicly named as a
suspect in such a serious crime. Experts on the Chinese legal system have
assumed since the announcement of Gu's detention that she will go to trial
and be convicted.

The timing of the report is striking, coming only days after Cambodian
police said China had requested the extradition of Patrick Devillers, a
French architect who also had links to Gu and Bo.

On Friday, Reuters quoted the Cambodian foreign minister as saying that
Devillers would not be extradited to any country.
"The Royal Government of Cambodia has already made decision to keep this
French national in Cambodia Š Neither sending to France or China," Hor
Namhong said.

He added that the architect remained in custody pending further
investigation.

Chinese officials have said they have no information on the Devillers case
and it is unclear on what grounds they were seeking his extradition.

Asahi Shimbun <http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201206220040>
said officials who had read an interim investigation report had told it of
Gu's alleged confession. According to the investigation, Gu was illicitly
receiving money and transferred as much as $6bn (£3.8bn) to accounts in
the names of relatives and friends overseas. It is claimed she admitted
killing Heywood to stop him revealing that he had helped her funnel money
abroad.

Friends of Heywood have questioned his involvement in such activities and
point out that he was not a wealthy man ­ as one might have expected if he
was handling billions of dollars.

According to the Asahi Shimbun, Gu was already under investigation for
financial impropriety when Heywood was found dead in a hotel in Chongqing,
where Bo was party secretary, last November. She said she had felt "driven
into a corner" when authorities began investigating her affairs and
explained how she had killed Heywood.

The party's central leadership began reinvestigating Heywood's death after
Bo's former ally and police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to the US consulate in
Chengdu. He is understood to have told officials Bo turned on him after he
said he suspected Gu was responsible.

The sources said authorities were also examining whether Bo ­ who is
accused of "severe disciplinary violations" ­ was aware of his wife's
actions. They detained dozens of people associated with him, including
drivers and aides who worked for him when he was mayor of north-eastern
Dalian in the 1990s, and questioned hundreds of people who had dealt with
him, including business people and figures from the entertainment world.