China Rocked to its Core by Murder Most Foul!

[Guest fountainhall]

At a time when the tentacles of Rupert Murdoch’s phone hacking scandal have now reached very firmly into the heart of the British cabinet, corruption in some other parts of the world retains its grip. One such incidence has resulted in a scandal in China which, relatively innocent though it first seemed, now looks like it is opening up the biggest can of worms of all, a Shakespearean saga that also bears some of the hallmarks of a James Bond movie. It has reportedly shocked the country's leadership.

 

Even those who admire how China has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty know well that corruption is rife in the country, and that those near the top of the tree are prone to the temptation of the huge riches than can accrue as a result of bribes, nepotism and other forms of kickback. The developing scandal, though, is different from most of the ones earlier reported, for although it, too, reaches high into the hierarchy, it has so far brought down one man believed by all to be a shoo-in for membership of the most senior organisation in the country later this year – the 9-member Standing Committee of the Communist Party.

 

The city of Chongqing in central China is nowhere near as well known as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou – or even cities like Chengdu where the Panda Reserve is located and Xi’an where the terracotta army was discovered. Yet, it has been for years the fastest growing urban centre on the planet, its population having surpassed that of Peru or Iraq some years ago. Its total population is difficult to estimate, but a figure of 30 million plus is commonly bandied around. Priding itself as the Chicago of China, since 2007 it has been run by Party Boss, Bo Xi Lai.

 

Like the city he runs, Bo Xi Lai is a name few outside of China were aware of until recently, except perhaps to the staff at England’s exclusive Harrow School, Oxford University and Harvard University. These expensive establishments are where Mr. Bo’s handsome, flamboyant and rich son, Bo Gua Gua, was educated. In an interview in the most recent edition of Harvard’s magazine, Bo Jnr. has claimed his education was paid for by scholarships and his mother’s savings (she was a prominent lawyer before giving up work 20 years ago). Few believe him.

 

Bo Gua Gua partying: Photo Credit - Daily Mail

 

Bo Jnr. has been forced to defend what may be his indefensible education and lifestyle as a result of the escalating scandals surrounding his parents – scandals that include the still-unexplained murder of a British businessman, the escape of his father’s chosen Vice-Mayor and Police Chief to the US Consulate in nearby Chengdu, and the increasing likelihood of his mother, Gu Ki Lai, being a sinister and evil figure in the mould of Mao’s disgraced wife, Jiang Qing. Lady Macbeth even springs to mind, with all the ambition and blood of that piece of devilry.

 

In happier times, Bo Snr. was Minister of Commerce between 2004 and 2007 before becoming Party Boss in Chongqing. There he became increasingly popular, building a cult around himself and his family, for his father, Bo Yi Bo, had been one of the revered Eight Elders of the early Communist Party and a close confidant of both Mao and Deng Xiao Ping. He also helped ensure the ascent of Jiang Ze Min who was to become Deng’s successor. Bo Xi Lai’s family connections, so important in China, were therefore impeccable.

 

This was all very different to the family’s experience during the Cultural Revolution. Bo Yi Bo was denounced and spent 12 years in prison. His son also spent time in prison, being released after five years. Like many former leaders, Bo Yi Bo was eventually rehabilitated and became the country’s Vice Premier in 1979. For his son, Bo Xi Lai, that experience in prison seems to have sown seeds that would eventually bring about his spectacular downfall, a determination perhaps to ensure that he would rise so far above such political rivalries by securing his political and financial future in unorthodox ways.

 

The present scandal started last November. In that month, a British businessman, Neil Heywood, a long-time resident in China married to a Chinese and living in Beijing, was found murdered in his lavish hotel suite in Chongqing. The death was subject to a fast investigation by the Police Chief, Wang Li Jun. Within hours, Heywood’s body had been cremated, the explanation of his death being just a murder by persons unknown. There the matter might have ended. It did not.

 

Heywood is an interesting character of the type beloved by readers of John Le Carré novels. He was known as a “fixer” with two decades of experience in China. He had first met Bo and his wife about 15 years earlier, in Dalian near Beijing where Bo was Mayor, whereafter they developed a close friendship. They also developed a working relationship that was distinctly murky. Soon Heywood became what is known in China as a Bai Shoutao – or white glove, doing deals on behalf of Bo and his family who, being senior Party members, could not get involved directly with business and finance. One of Heywood’s first acts seems to have been getting young Bo Gua Gua accepted into his old school, Harrow.

 

When Bo moved to Chongqing, Heywood was a frequent visitor. According to an article in yesterday’s Telegraph, another UK expatriate explained that Heywood was provided with a 5-star hotel suite, a Mercedes and driver, air travel around the world, a “small” amount of cash for living expenses – plus “two percent of any investments successfully concluded.” At the time of his death, it is believed he was working for Bo on the development of an £80 million development involving a shopping centre dedicated to British luxury goods. A commission of £1.6 million on just one deal must have seemed hugely attractive. Yet, Heywood is said to have told friends he was nervous about his November Chongqing trip. The reasons have still to be revealed.

 

As is now known, Heywood was murdered. In February, Bo’s protégé, Vice-Mayor and Police Chief Wang Li Jun, a man Bo himself had encouraged to come to work for him, fled Chongqing and sought refuge in the US Consulate in Chengdu. There, he informed startled officials that Bo’s wife was not only involved in Heywood’s death, was not only present in the hotel suite when he was murdered – she actually administered the three doses of cyanide poison that killed him.

 

http://www.telegraph...s-poisoned.html

 

Wang requested political asylum on the grounds that his life was in danger. It seems this was denied and he had to return to Chongqing. Within 24 hours, several overseas Chinese-language news websites posted an open letter, rumoured to be penned by Wang, criticizing Bo as a “hypocrite” and the “general gangster of China”. It also accused him of corruption.

 

Did Heywood have a suspicion that he had incurred Bo’s wrath? Did he know that his life might be in danger? Did he tell anyone, even his wife, of his fears? These questions will probably never be answered.

 

But just today, there is a further twist, for it is being reported that Gu, not content with being the wife of one of the country’s most important political figures, was also Heywood’s mistress. Allegedly she was furious with Heywood because he wanted a bigger commission on a deal to transfer a large sum of cash out of the country.

 

http://www.dailymail...o=feeds-newsxml

 

The national outcry that was quickly to lead to Bo’s downfall has shaken the Party to the core of its being. However many more criminal acts come to light, Bo, his wife and Police Chief Wang are all behind bars, all likely to face the death sentence when the cases against them are finalized and go before the courts. Another thing seems certain. Embarrassment or no, the Chinese government will heavily publicise the case internally in an attempt at least to scale back the degree of corruption in the highest levels of the Party. What other effects it might have in the on-going internal struggle between the traditionalists and the modernisers within the Party, no-one is yet predicting.

 

All of which makes Murdoch Senior’s cozying up to politicians and sleazy hacking of mobile phones seem a bit like small beer!

[Guest fountainhall]

What I find so fascinating about this saga is less the murder and mayhem in Chongqing, but more the political ramifications at the centre of power in Beijing’s Zhongnanhai, the compound just to the west of the Forbidden City where the country’s leadership live.

 

On the day before Bo Xi Lai lost his power, there was a heated debate at a meeting of the Standing Committee. According to The Australian, only one member spoke out for Bo, Zhou Yong Kang, head of the party's Political and Legislative Committee, whose portfolio also includes internal security. It’s no coincidence that Zhou had been a close associate of Bo. Zhou’s advocacy apparently angered Wen Jia Bao, the country’s reformist Prime Minister who has been desperate to introduce major reforms before he has to step down at the start of next year. All other members agreed with Wen – Bo had to go.

 

http://www.theaustra...6-1226341089542

 

Zhou, too, will have to go, although the Party is likely to wait till the reshuffle later this year rather than sack him outright. That will clear the Committee of one hardliner “who controls the police and the paramilitary and is responsible for maintaining internal stability.” And that, surely, will play right into the hands of the reformers, especially Prime Minster Weng, who is widely regarded as leading the charge for major reforms.

 

In a candid press conference last month that was broadcast live on Chinese state television,

 

Mr Wen warned that China must change the “leadership structure” of the Communist party and of the country or risk stagnation and even chaos . . .

 

Mr Wen warned that the new problems emerging in Chinese society, including a huge wealth gap, endemic corruption and a public distrust of the government, could only be solved with “more economic and political structural reform”.

 

“[Otherwise] Mistakes like the Cultural Revolution may happen again. Any government official or party member with a sense of responsibility should recognise this.”

 

Mr Wen also appeared to point at Wukan, the southern Chinese village that has just held transparent and open elections after throwing out its Communist party secretary at the end of last year, as an example of how democracy could spread in China.

 

“If a people can run a village well, I like to think that they could run a town, and if they can run a town, they can manage a county,” he said. “We should follow such a road, to encourage people’s bold practice and allow them to receive training,” he added.

 

http://www.telegraph...cal-reform.html

 

How China is run under the new Party leadership to be elected at year-end is likely to have a huge effect not only on the country itself, but also of the world.

[Bob]

The story is fascinating for a lot of reasons but what interests me the most is the dissemination of internal China politics all over the place. Some of it apears intentional and some not (it's the "not" part that I like and that's perhaps a sign that China, like most other countries, is losing it's grip on its usually tight control of information).

 

The article in the New York Times the other day disclosed that Bo was in the habit of wiretapping/hacking the telephones of communist party officials when they came into Bo's province, allegedly for the reason so he could listen into what party officials were saying about him. Strange (and, in my view, also exhibits some clear stupidity and paranoia on Bo's part).

 

And I see CNN is reporting today that Bo's son was ticketed a few times last year driving an expensive Porsche in the states. He didn't own the car but they have the guy's name (sounds like he's Chinese, perhaps) and I'm sure the "rest of the story" will be out soon. The son might be a bit smarter to figure out what's really going on in China before choosing to return.

[Guest fountainhall]

More revelations on this fascinating case today from London's Sunday Telegraph.

 

Gu Kailai, who is in custody accused of poisoning Mr Heywood, struck a bizarre deal to import hot air balloons from Dorset to China – and is accused of trying to illegally bring into Britain £200,000 to pay for her son's public school fees.

 

The deal shows how Mrs Gu, whose husband Bo Xilai was until last month one of China's most powerful politicians, and Mr Heywood enjoyed a business relationship going back almost 15 years, suggesting he was deeply involved in her financial affairs. It has been claimed Mr Heywood may have been killed because he knew too much.

 

The revelations come as Scotland Yard is set to conduct its own investigation into Mr Heywood's death on the orders of a London coroner.

 

The Sunday Telegraph has learned that Dr Andrew Harris, coroner for south London, is considering writing to Ken Clarke, the Justice Secretary, requesting permission to hold an inquest under a special section of the Coroners Act.

 

Any inquest would give the coroner power to order police to carry out an investigation. Chinese authorities first said Mr Heywood, who was cremated, had died from drinking too much an alcohol before opening its own murder inquiry.

 

http://www.telegraph...-of-murder.html

 

Into this mix has been thrown another hugely embarrassing incident for the Chinese government: the escape of blind dissident Cheng Guangchang from house arrest to the safety of the US Embassy. This no doubt is another nail in the coffin of Standing Committee member and internal security chief, Zhou Yong Kang. Indeed, in the murky morass of Chinese politics, one wonders if Zhou might have ordered his minions to look the other way so as to facilitate the escape of Chang, if only to embarrass the colleagues set to oust him into political oblivion.

[Guest fountainhall]

With the media suggesting that Bo Xi Lai’s tempestuous wife, Gu Kai Lai, is about to be indicted for murder, London’s Daily Mail, never the most accurate observer of events around the world, has chipped in with another bizarre story about Gu. It does, however, shed some light on how her son’s expensive school and university fees might have been paid.

 

Gu had a penthouse apartment in Bournemouth on England’s South Coast. Clearly wealthy, she shared bankers with the Queen! She was staying there whilst her young son studied English prior, hopefully, to starting his full time education in the country. Impressed by a large tethered balloon which took visitors 500 ft. over Bournemouth, in 1998 Mrs. Gu allegedly entered negotiations to have a similar balloon sent over to Dalian where her husband was the all-powerful Mayor. Gu proposed the company, Vistarama, would then overbill the freight costs by £150,000 which Vistarama would use to pay Bo Junior’s school fees.

 

The disgraced Bo family in happier times. Photo copyright: The Daily Mail

 

Company director Giles Hall told how Mrs Gu approached his firm, Vistarama . . . She was accompanied . . . occasionally by Mr Heywood (the man she is alleged to have poisoned), a consultant who was mentoring her son, Bo Guagua, to help him get a place at Harrow.

 

Mr Hall said: ‘She was a very cold, hard woman.

 

'It was always apparent that she wanted things to be done quietly and secretly, and we had to sign a confidentiality agreement, which seemed bizarre . . .

 

The tethered balloon deal for Dalian went ahead, but Mr Hall said payments came from a variety of sources, including the Dalian Free Trade Zone, private companies and Gu’s account with Coutts, the Queen’s banker.

 

He told how Mrs Gu offered to make a £150,000 ‘extra payment’ on an air freight charge for a winch they needed for the Dalian balloon.

 

‘She said, “We have to get Bo Guagua into Harrow and we need you to pay the fees”.

 

'I said we couldn’t afford to do that and she said, “No, we pay. We pay the company, you pay the school”.’

 

Mr Hall said his deal with Mrs Gu soured when the winch could not be shipped to Dalian and had to go via Beijing.

 

He added: ‘By the end, it was very apparent that there was corruption involved. She didn’t have to worry as long as everything went through Dalian, where her husband was in control.

 

‘When the winch was sent to Beijing, she was furious. She said if any of us turned up in China she would get us locked up. Plainly she had the means to do it. In Dalian they were all-powerful.

 

'Everyone was scared to death of her there.’

 

http://www.dailymail...lloon-deal.html

[Guest fountainhall]

Perhaps not surprisingly given the labyrinthine ways of Chinese politics, the Daily Mail reports that the tentacles of the plot which killed British businessman Neil Heywood are edging ever closer to the former golden boy of the communist party. It is now alleged that Bo Xi Lai had plotted three ways to try first to murder his self-appointed Police Chief Wang Li Jun and then cover it up, so as to deflect any probes that might fall in his direction. As we know now, the Police Chief remains alive. Mr. Heywood is dead.

 

Hong Kong magazine New Way has claimed in an investigation that Mr Bo drew up three false explanations to hide the planned killing of Mr Wang, having already allegedly arrested and tortured several members of the police chief's inner circle.

 

Jiang Weiping, a Chinese journalist now living in exile in Canada after being jailed for reporting on Mr Bo, said details of the plot had been confirmed to him by sources in Chongqing, the city where Mr Heywood was allegedly murdered.

 

Mr Jiang told the Sunday Telegraph that Mr Bo invented scenarios to explain Mr Wang's death and to play down any suggestions that he was involved.

 

The first story was to blame the killing on the local mafia as revenge for police efforts to fight crime in the city.

 

The second was to pretend Mr Wang had committed suicide to escape being punished for corruption.

 

The third fake explanation was suicide caused by Mr Wang's depression.

 

Mr Bo opted for the third explanation, the magazine claimed, because the first was too difficult and the second would undermine his push for national power.

 

His aides are said to have forged Mr Wang's medical history to suggest the police chief suffered from depression.

 

They are also believed to have leaked a supposed hospital certificate on the internet in an attempt to spread the word that Mr Wang was mentally unstable.

 

http://www.dailymail...lice-chief.html

 

In the meantime, The Telegraph has been revealing the very profitable activities of Bo’s wife in Europe. Not only was the murdered Neil Heywood involved in her affairs, a mysterious Frenchman, Patrick Henri Devilliers, seems to have been the spider at the centre of her business web. Mr. Deviliers, who has now disappeared, ran a £40 million property firm based in Luxembourg – D2 Properties S.a.r.l – with a portfolio of properties dotted around Europe.

 

In filings to the Luxembourg authorities, the elusive Mr. Devilliers registered his address as being as apartment in the Asian Games Village near the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing. But this address is also listed as the office of one Horus L. Kai, the name “used as an alias by Bo’s wife in her dealings with western businessmen – and the original name of her law practice."

 

D2 Properties most recent accounts reveal a turnover of more then £630,000 and profits of £135,000. This money is generated though stakes in ten French property firms which control at least £35 million worth of rental property, “real estate” and other developments in France.

 

http://www.telegraph...rty-empire.html

 

How Devilliers met Bo and Gu is not known. But Devilliers was married to a Chinese musician, Guan Jie, and they just happened to move to Dalian in 1993 when Bo was Mayor there. Like Bo, Guan’s family is part of the Communist party elite. Her great uncle, Guan Xiang Ying, was a “Hero of the Revolution” and a leading member of the Politburo. When he died in 1946, Mao himself wrote the eulogy.

 

And as with Neil Heywood, rumours suggest that Gu not only had a relationship with Devilliers but that this might have resulted in his divorce in 2003.

 

A Beijing lawyer who works in the complex where Bo's wife's firm is allegedly located said yesterday: "The manager has been arrested and the firm has been shut down. It has been de-listed from the China Law Association. There's a great fear amongst lawyers who have had dealings with this firm. Many people connected with it have been arrested."

 

So serious is this scandal there are now rumours that the 5-yearly Party Congress may have to be postponed from its usual time of September/October whilst the rifts within the leadership are pasted over or a full-scale purge has taken place.

[Guest fountainhall]

This no doubt is another nail in the coffin of Standing Committee member and internal security chief, Zhou Yong Kang

 

Nice to know that my political antenna ( ) still pick up a few odd signals from China. I made my prediction two-and-a-half weeks ago, and movements to oust Security Chief and Spymaster Zhou are picking up speed. In a highly unusual move - no doubt orchestrated by the reformers who saw Zhou as a return to Maoism even before he backed disgraced Party Member Bo Xi Lai - a group of Party veterans have apparently written to President Hu Jin Tao asking him to sack Zhou now.

 

In an open letter to President Hu, the party's general secretary, the veterans suggest Mr Zhou is part of a movement to revive the China of Mao Zedong . . .

 

It is not often that party members make such a daring plea to their boss. The letter urges the president to sack Mr Zhou from his post as head of China's police force, its courts and its spy network.

 

(Zhou) is also a member of the standing committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the country's highest decision-making body.

 

The letter's authors, who all know each other, also want him out of that job too.

 

Some of the veteran party members who wrote the note joined the Chinese communists before they took power in 1949.

 

They hold no senior positions - and do not seem to be particularly influential. But one of the authors, Yu Yongqing, told the BBC that they had received hundreds of calls of support, and some threatening ones . . .

 

The letter seems to warn about the dangers of reviving an interest in Chairman Mao and his policies.

 

It stresses the danger China faces from such things as corruption and the inequality of wealth without political reform.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...-china-18091298

 

The focus on corruption and inequality of wealth echo almost exactly the sentiments expressed by Premier Wen Jia Bao in an unusual media conference only a couple of weeks ago. WIth his image as a reformer, Wen's faction may well be behind the latest campaign in order to strengthen those lobbying for more reformers when the new Standing Committee is elected a the end of this year.

 

But my bet is the hard-core traditionalists will also come out fighting fire with fire. The next few weeks will be interesting!

[Guest fountainhall]

The case against Bo Xilai's wife, accused of having murdered British businessman Neil Heywood, seems to be closer to a date in court. According to Japan's Asahi Shimbun, Gu has indeed confessed to the murder. An investigation has allegedly come up with evidence she had illicitly received and transferred to a variety of bank accounts as much as US$6 billion.

 

Asahi Shimbun 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

http://www.guardian....ss-neil-heywood

[Guest fountainhall]

The expected indictment has come down. Bo Xilai's wife was today charged with the "intentional homicide" of British businessman Neil Heywood.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18996032

[Guest fountainhall]

With Bo Xilai’s wife and his former Police Chief now behind bars in connection with the murder of British businessman, Neil Heywood, the tale of Bo Xilai seems to take on even greater Shakespearean proportions.

 

A report in the New York Times on October 6 details two interviews given by Bo’s first wife, Li Danyu, in which she tells of a meeting between Bo and her brother earlier this year. Bo suggests the existence of a plot to murder his then wife, Gu Kailai. The suspect was his first wife’s son. “Could this be true?” Bo asked. The suggestion is that Bo suffers from the delusions of many in power. As the Times article continues –

 

In dynastic eras, palace upheavals were often catalyzed by paranoia and jealousies within the imperial family. From Qin Shihuang, the first emperor, to the Empress Dowager Cixi to Mao Zedong, China’s rulers have tended to suspect conspiracies against them and their close kin and have looked for assassins in the shadows. The same fears can arise within aristocratic Communist families today, especially among those vying for leadership positions.

 

http://www.nytimes.c...wanted=all&_r=0

 

Now Bo has been stripped of his powers, indicted on a range of criminal charges and expelled from the Communist Party. Yet, the on-going debate within the Chinese leadership between (i) the old guard who represent the forces unhappy with the capitalist direction the country has taken in recent decades and who advocate a return to strict Maoist policies and (ii) those who are pro-reform, obviously continues to rage.

 

Hundreds of Bo’s top backers have taken the quite extraordinary step of signing a petition urging parliament – the National People’s Congress – not to expose him to a potentially unfair trial over abuse of power. To these hard-liners, Bo’s family connections (his father was a leader in the Long March) and his communist credentials are more important than potential abuse of power and involvement in a murder.

 

Until a few months ago a seeming shoo-in for membership of the nine-member Standing Committee of the Politburo, China’s top decision making body, Bo is now a huge embarrassment to the leadership. An extraordinary meeting of the National People’s Congress takes place tomorrow to decide whether to expel Bo as a legislator, a move which would strip him of his legal immunity.

 

http://www.channelne...1232976/1/.html

 

The 18th Party Congress which will elect the leadership to take charge of the country for the next ten years is due to take place some time in November. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post is predicting that the number on the Standing Committee may be reduced from 9 to 7 with the Party’s Propaganda Chief and Head of the Security Apparatus likely to be downgraded to normal Politburo members

 

http://www.scmp.com/...lub-good-or-bad

 

In the meantime, whilst the censors have been doing their best to block all mention of Bo’s name, Chinese bloggers continue to talk about corruption in high places and how the leadership are never judged as ordinary Chinese.

 

Yet the drama presently unfolding has exposed the degree of influence of the octogenarian Party elders, like former President Jiang Zemin (1992 - 2002) and former Premier Li Peng (1988 - 98), the stone-faced hardliner who was behind using the army to quell the Tiananmen Square protests. Although retirement age for the leadership has been 68 since 2002, former leaders retain considerable leverage. Jiang Zemin, especially, has a stake in the future of Bo Xilai. Jiang had nurtured his career in exchange for support from Bo’s (Long March) father. A detailed examination of Bo’s past and business interests may not bode well for Jiang’s legacy, nor for the leadership which he helped put in place when he retired.

 

And so reformers, like the present President Hu Jintao and Prime Minster Wen Jiabao, may not have things all their own way in the new leadership elections next month.

 

http://online.wsj.co...2672679296.html

[Guest fountainhall]

With Bo Xi Lai stripped of his Party membership and now awaiting trial, the spotlight has fallen on another, even more powerful, Chinese leader. One of the consistent campaigners against corruption in China has been the outgoing Premier, Wen Jia Bao. Known for his populist approach and common touch, Wen is often referred to as “Grandpa Wen”. According to aides quoted in an article in yesterday’s New York Times, he was “conspicuous for being fastidious”.

 

Now, though, it seems as though his exhortations have turned out to be hollow, at least as far as members of his own family are concerned. Wen comes from a poor family. But that family is now reported to be obscenely rich. Just one of the investments of his 90-year mother had a value of US$120 million five years ago. Many other relatives, including his son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law, have amassed a fortune of at least US$2.7 billion during his leadership

 

The Times found that Wen’s relatives accumulated shares in banks, jewelers, tourist resorts, telecommunications companies and infrastructure projects, sometimes by using offshore entities.

 

The holdings include a villa development project in Beijing; a tire factory in northern China; a company that helped build some of Beijing’s Olympic stadiums, including the well-known ‘‘Bird’s Nest’’; and Ping An Insurance, one of the world’s biggest financial services companies . . .

 

It is no secret in China’s elite circles that the Premier’s wife, Zhang Beili, is rich and that she has helped control the nation’s jewelry and gem trade. But her lucrative diamond businesses became an off-the-charts success only as her husband moved into the country’s top leadership ranks, the review of corporate and regulatory records by The Times found.

 

http://topics.nytime...abao/index.html

http://www.smh.com.a...1026-28a9o.html

 

With so much jockeying for position before the Party Congress next month, I doubt if this will be the last of the revelations.

[Guest fountainhall]

Yet another twist in the case of murdered British businessman Neil Heywood and the subsequent disgrace and charges against one-time communist Party high-flier Bo Xi Lai. According to the Wall Street Journal, Heywood had been -

 

. . . knowingly providing information about the Bo family to Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, for more than a year when he was murdered in China last November . . .

 

British authorities have sought to quell speculation that Mr. Heywood was a spy ever since the Journal reported in March that he had been working occasionally in China for a London-based business-intelligence company founded by a former MI6 officer and staffed by many former spies.

 

William Hague, the British foreign secretary who oversees MI6, broke with standard policy of not commenting on intelligence matters and issued a statement in April saying Mr. Heywood, who was 41 when he died, was "not an employee of the British government in any capacity."

 

That was technically true, according to people familiar with the matter. They said Mr. Heywood wasn't an MI6 officer, wasn't paid and was "never in receipt of tasking"—meaning he never was given a specific mission to carry out or asked to seek a particular piece of information.

 

But he was a willful and knowing informant, and his MI6 contact once described him as "useful" to a former colleague. "A little goes a long way," the former colleague recalls the contact saying in relation to intelligence reports based on Mr. Heywood's information.

 

Mr. Heywood's intelligence links cast new light on the response to his death from British authorities, who initially accepted the local police's conclusion that he died from "excessive alcohol consumption" and didn't try to prevent his body from being quickly cremated without an autopsy. The British government didn't ask China for an investigation until Feb. 15—a week after a former Chongqing police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to a U.S. consulate in China and told U.S. diplomats that Mr. Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, had murdered the Briton.

http://online.wsj.co...0894694144.html

 

The article continues with suggestions that there are implications for the Chinese authorities who may have suffered a major security breach at the top levels of the Party.