China names new suspect in murder of British businessman

The Chinese Communist Party has suspended the former high flyer Bo Xilai, banishing him from the Politburo and the Central Committee and effectively ending his political career. At the same time, his wife Gu Kailai has is now being questioned over the death of a British businessman, in circumstances which have never been resolved.

Bo, the son of a revolutionary hero from the era of Chairman Mao, was once seen as one China’s most charismatic politicians, groomed for political greatness. Now he has been accused of “being involved in serious disciplinary violations”, and his wife is in even bigger trouble. According to the official Xinhua news agency, Ms Gu and a household employee are “highly suspected” over the death of 41-year-old business consultant Neil Heywood in his Chongqing hotel room last year.

Mr Heywood was originally said to have died from an excess of alcohol after a perfunctory medical examination. His body was swiftly cremated and there was no post-mortem. However a friend claimed he believed Mr Heywood hardly touched alcohol, rumours swirled about his close relationship with Bo, and the issue became so highly charged that China banned internet searches of Heywood’s name.

The scandal erupted into the open in February, when Bo’s deputy and former police chief in Chongqing, Wang Lijun, suddenly turned up at the US consulate hundreds of miles away in Chengdu and asked for protection. He allegedly claimed that Bo’s family was behind Heywood’s death and that he himself was in danger. He was later persuaded to leave by Chinese officials who then took him away for investigation. However, under pressure from Britain and the United States, Chinese police did decide to re-investigate the death.

Heywood had enjoyed an unusually close relationship with Bo and his family, along with a high-rolling lifestyle. His company, Heywood Boddington Associates, states that it “serves the interests of UK businesses in the Peoples’ Republic of China”, but there were suspicions that he had really been brokering secretive business deals.

After his death, claims emerged that he had told friends in China that he feared for his safety, after falling out with Gu. Now the new police investigation has decided Heywood did not die of natural causes after all. “The existing evidence indicates Heywood died of homicide, of which Gu Kailai and .. an assistant in Bo’s household are highly suspected”, according to the Xinhua agency. It says Gu and Heywood were in dispute over unspecified “economic interests”.

Before he disappeared from public view in early March, Bo insisted that accusations of misdeeds by his wife were nonsense, and accused some people of pouring “filth on my family”. There’s been no response as yet to the current allegations.

In an editorial China’s People’s Daily newspaper – the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party – said: “Bo Xilai’s conduct has seriously violated the party’s disciplinary rules, damaging the affairs of the party and the country, and badly harming the image of the party and country .. there are no citizens who are privileged before the law, and the party does not allow privileged members who stand above the law.”

The latest developments were greeted with amazement in China. Residents of Bo’s former power base, Chongqing, were shocked on hearing the news, said Zhang Mingyu, a businessman in the city who has accused Bo of using his crackdown on organised crime to stifle critics and legitimate business: “In Chongqing, everybody is up and discussing this and waiting for more news,” Zhang told the Reuters news agency. “The ordinary residents are staggered. Many didn’t think the rumours could be true. They want to know what the hell has been going on.”

Not only has this latest twist in the scandal surrounding Bo and his family set off shock-waves through China’s political elite, it has also thrown into doubt any hopes of a peaceful transition of power within the Communist party, when leader Hu Jintao steps down in the autumn. It’s already being described as the country’s biggest political crisis since the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square.