Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
My wife is crazy, says ex-party boss Bo
JINAN: Greed, machinations and betrayal in one of China’s elite families went on display yesterday when prosecutors in the corruption trial of disgraced politician Bo Xilai released testimony from his wife on a businessman’s gifts to the family, including a French villa and plane tickets to three continents.
Bo retorted that his wife, Gu Kailai, was “crazy” and a convicted killer, disputing the prosecution’s contention that the gifts amounted to bribes and denying he had provided any political favours in exchange for them.
“Bogu Kailai has changed, she’s crazy, and she’s always making things up,” Bo told the Jinan Intermediate People's Court. “Under conditions where her mental state is abnormal, the investigators put her under immense pressure to expose me.”
The lurid details also have a serious political side, with the ruling Communist Party using the trial against Bo, a former Politburo member and party leader of Chongqing, to cap a messy political scandal unleashed by suspicions that his wife killed a British businessman.
That scandal led to his political ouster, cemented by criminal charges of interfering with the murder investigation and netting $4.3 million (R43.9m) through corruption.
But China’s leaders also need to perform a balancing act with the trial by showing they are serious about fighting graft but without encouraging complaints that such abuses are widespread under one- party rule. It is widely believed the trial will end in a predetermined conviction, but Bo has launched an unexpectedly spirited defence.
The trial has focused on Bo’s alleged individual economic misdeeds, and avoided discussion of the political battle he’s widely perceived as having lost in his pursuit of a seat in China’s apex of power, analysts said.
“The fact that he lost in the political game predetermined a guilty verdict, irrespective of the value of evidence being put in court,” said Willy Lam, an expert on politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
As the children of revolutionary veterans, Bo and Gu are examples of how the off- spring of party elders have access to important political and business connections.
In Gu’s statement she said a businessman accused of bribing Bo was a family friend who did many favours for them in exchange for her husband’s help. She said the businessman, Xu Ming, gave the family a villa in Nice, France, often paid for their air tickets to Europe, Africa and South America, and expensive gifts, including a Segway electric scooter for her son.
The Jinan court’s microblog has provided a rare but possibly incomplete window into the proceedings for the public and for foreign media.
Bo is accused of embezzlement and abusing his power in interfering in the investigation of UK middleman Neil Heywood’s 2011 murder.
Bo’s defence strategy has focused on challenging the relevance of evidence and stating he was ignorant of any favours that two businessmen were providing his wife and son. He described the testimony of his wife and the businessman Xu as “fabricated”, and that of his former police chief Wang Lijun as “tittle-tattle.”
Besides the testimony, pros- ecutors have presented documents – receipts, copies of faxes, government approvals – and photos of the villa they say prove the businessmen helped enrich the Bo family in return for political favours from Bo.
Prosecutors presented written statements by Gu and others about the French villa, worth $3 million in 2000, which Xu allegedly bought for Bo’s family.
Gu detailed how she and some associates hatched a plan to set up a property company to buy the villa to evade taxes and hide the family’s ownership. Gu said the villa was to be refurbished and rented out as an investment to ensure a steady income for her son, Bo Guagua.
“This idea received Bo Xilai’s support,” she said, adding that she told Bo in 2002 that she “allowed” Xu to buy her the property. She reassured Bo when he asked if it was safe for Xu to do so. – Sapa-AP