MCLC: Wang's testimony implicates Bo

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Wang's testimony implicates Bo
***********************************************************

Source: NYT (9/19/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/world/asia/trial-implicates-bo-xilai-in-h
eywood-cover-up.html

Testimony Implicates a Chinese Official in the Cover-Up of a Briton’s
Murder
By EDWARD WONG 

BEIJING — The Chinese government on Wednesday released an official account
of the trial of a former police chief that essentially accused the
disgraced politician Bo Xilai of trying to cover up the murder of a
British businessman by Mr. Bo’s wife.

The account was published by Xinhua, the state news agency, and said the
police officer, Wang Lijun, told Mr. Bo on Jan. 28 that his wife, Gu
Kailai, was a serious suspect in the murder of the businessman, Neil
Heywood. The next morning, Mr. Bo, who was the Communist Party chief of
the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing at the time, scolded Mr. Wang and
slapped him in the face, the report said.

Mr. Wang, 52, set off one of China’s biggest political scandals in a
generation by fleeing to the United States Consulate in the nearby city of
Chengdu on Feb. 6 and telling diplomats there about Mr. Heywood’s murder.
The fact that the Chinese government cited that incident in its official
report of Mr. Wang’s trial, which took place in Chengdu on Monday and
Tuesday, is the surest sign yet that Mr. Bo could be charged with covering
up the murder. Mr. Bo was dismissed as party chief of Chongqing in March
and suspended from his post in the Politburo in April. But until now,
there had been little sign of how the party might deal with his case; some
analysts had said Mr. Bo might avoid criminal charges and be subject to
party discipline measures instead.

The account of Mr. Wang’s trial suggests that Mr. Bo could be dealt with
more harshly than some had expected. Mr. Bo’s name was not mentioned in
the Xinhua report, but the phrase used to describe the person Mr. Wang
told about the Heywood murder — “the Chongqing party committee’s main
person responsible at the time” — is an unmistakable reference.

The son of a historic Communist leader, Mr. Bo is the one major figure in
the political scandal who has yet to go on trial. Ms. Gu, called Bogu
Kailai in the Xinhua reports, faces life in prison after being given a
suspended death sentence last month for the murder of Mr. Heywood.

The Xinhua account also said Mr. Wang had filed an application for asylum
during his 33-hour stay at the United States Consulate. American officials
have said Mr. Wang did not apply for asylum and left of his volition; one
official has said there is no formal paper application for asylum.

Mr. Wang was tried this week on four charges: defection, abuse of power,
taking bribes and bending the law for one’s personal gain.

The charge of bending the law is centered on what prosecutors said was Mr.
Wang’s attempt to protect Ms. Gu by covering up Mr. Heywood’s murder. The
official account said Mr. Wang discussed with Ms. Gu on Nov. 12, 2011, the
idea of trying to detain Mr. Heywood on the pretext of a drug-related
crime. The next day, according to the account, Ms. Gu poisoned Mr.
Heywood. On Nov. 14, she told Mr. Wang at her home about the killing; Mr.
Wang secretly recorded the conversation.

The account said Ms. Gu had testified that Mr. Wang initially promised to
help cover up the crime. “He asked me to forget about it,” she said,
according to the report. “It would have nothing to do with me in the
future.”

When Mr. Heywood’s body was discovered at a Chongqing hotel on Nov. 15,
Mr. Wang specifically assigned a policeman, Guo Weiguo, to take charge of
the investigation and recalled another officer who was already on the
scene.

The next morning, four policemen — Mr. Guo and three others — all agreed
to report that Mr. Heywood died after drinking too much alcohol. Mr. Wang
supported the assessment, the account said. The four policemen were tried
last month for protecting Ms. Gu and found guilty.

The account said that on Nov. 17, Mr. Wang gave Ms. Gu the digital
recording from a surveillance camera at the hotel where Mr. Heywood had
died. It showed that Ms. Gu was the last person to leave the room that
night.

Mr. Wang explained in testimony why he had protected Ms. Gu. “After
arriving in Chongqing, I frequently went to Bogu Kailai’s home,” he said.
“I felt Bogu Kailai was quite nice to me.”

The Xinhua report does not say why Mr. Wang decided to confront Mr. Bo
with the Heywood murder. But after Mr. Bo slapped him on Jan. 29, Mr. Wang
asked three police allies to again collect evidence of Mr. Heywood’s
murder. He instructed the police officers to keep the evidence in separate
places, the report said. After he was taken to Beijing, he wrote a letter
to one of the police allies, Li Yang, instructing him to give Mr.
Heywood’s blood sample to investigators.

The account also laid out bribes that Mr. Wang had taken. It said Xu Ming,
a tycoon close to the Bo family, gave Mr. Wang two properties in Beijing
in 2009 that Mr. Xu had bought for more than $450,000. In July of that
year, Mr. Wang released three people from custody at Mr. Xu’s request, the
account said. Mr. Wang also took nearly $32,000 from Yu Junshi, a
businessman, for the rental of Mr. Wang’s villa in Chongqing, the report
said. In return, Mr. Wang released a detainee. Mr. Yu is a former military
intelligence officer who worked as a fixer for the Bo family.

Wang Yuncai, a lawyer for Mr. Wang, said in a telephone interview that the
Xinhua report was a mostly accurate account of what was said during the
trial. But she contended that Mr. Wang had not taken bribes from Mr. Xu
and Mr. Yu. Instead, she said, Ms. Gu arranged those favors through the
men for Mr. Wang and Mr. Wang did not regard them as payments and did no
favors in return.

Patrick Zuo contributed research.