China: Politician’s U-turn over Neil Heywood death inquiry is revealed

CHINESE politician Bo Xilai initially agreed to a police investigation of his wife’s role in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood before reversing course and demoting his police chief, causing upheavals that led to the downfall of both men.

An account given by sources in Chonquing gives new details of the dramatic breakdown in relations between Mr Bo, an ambitious leader who cast himself as the crime-fighting boss of Chongqing, China’s biggest municipality, and his once trusted police chief, Wang Lijun.

Prime Minister David Cameron raised the Heywood case yesterday with visiting senior Chinese official Li Changchun, who assured him that the case was “being examined by the judiciary in full accordance with the rule of law”, a spokeswoman for Mr Cameron said.

The Prime Minister told Mr Li, China’s propaganda chief and a member of its most powerful leadership body, the politburo standing committee, that Britain was ready to offer “any necessary assistance” with the probe.

Mr Heywood was allegedly poisoned last November after he threatened to expose a plan by Mr Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, to move money abroad.

The scandal is potentially the most divisive the Communist Party has faced since Zhao Ziyang was sacked as party chief in 1989 for opposing the brutal army crackdown on student-led pro-democracy demonstrations centred on Tiananmen Square in Beijing that year. Before his fall, Mr Bo, 62, was widely seen as a contender for a post in the politburo committee, which will be decided later this year.

In a tense meeting on or about 18 January, Wang confronted Mr Bo with evidence implicating Gu in the death of Mr Heywood, a former friend of the Bo family, said two sources with knowledge of police and government information on the case.

Mr Bo was so angry he ordered Wang out of the office, but shortly afterwards signalled the inquiry should proceed, the sources added.Two or three days later, Mr Bo made a U-turn and shunted aside Mr Wang in an apparent bid to protect his wife and his career, they said.

Wang fled to the US consulate in Chengdu on 6 February in an apparent asylum attempt, which exposed the rift between him and Mr Bo and later brought to light official suspicions that Gu had engineered Mr Heywood’s murder.

Gu and Wang are in custody and Mr Bo has not been seen in public since March, when he was dismissed as boss of Chongqing, in south-west China.

He was stripped of his seat on the politburo last week.

Gu is being held on suspicion of committing or arranging Mr Heywood’s murder, though no details of the motive or the crime itself have been publicly released, other than a general comment from Chinese state media that he was killed after a financial dispute.

“Bo was shocked and outraged after he learned about the murder. He asked Wang to leave, saying he wanted to be alone and clear his mind,” said Chonqging entrepreneur Wang Kang.

“When Wang returned half an hour later, Bo said to him that the issue carried too much significance and he would seriously punish his wife,” Mr Wang said.

Police believe Mr Heywood was poisoned with a drink at a Chongqing hotel after he threatened to expose a plan by Gu to move money abroad, the second source has said.

Wang personally took over the case when he found several deputies had refused to continue their work even after a link to Gu was established, the source said.