Corruption investigation ends China official’s political ambitions

One of China’s highest-profile politicians interfered in a corruption investigation involving his wife before he was fired last week, according to a leaked transcript and Communist Party sources.

Bo Xilai’s removal as Communist Party boss of Chongqing, a city-province beside the Yangtze River, appears to have brought the career of one of the country’s most ambitious politicians to a screeching halt.

The scandal has played out in an exceptionally public way – albeit with few concrete details being released – and has fuelled speculation that Mr Bo’s sudden fall from grace was linked to competition for top spots when a new generation of national leaders is installed later this year. Mr Bo, 62, had been considered a leading candidate for the party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee when new members are chosen this autumn.

One former official said yesterday: “Many people were opposed to Bo joining the standing committee. He was ambitious and unscrupulous, and that goes against how Chinese leaders are supposed to appear.”

The nepotism allegation against Mr Bo is unusual, partly because such abuse of power is believed to be widely tolerated among Chinese officials.

Mr Bo was dismissed on Thursday as part of an inquiry into Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun’s flight to a US consulate in what a leaked transcript of official comments said was an attempt to gain political asylum. Mr Wang is now in custody.

Little had been known publicly about what prompted Mr Wang’s asylum attempt, or the nature of the apparent rift in his once-close relationship with Mr Bo, who hand-picked him to lead the Chongqing police force and carry out a heavy crackdown on organised crime.

However, a transcript of remarks by an unnamed official from the Communist Party’s General Office that have circulated on the internet say that Mr Bo tried to sideline Mr Wang in late January after the police chief informed Mr Bo of an investigation into one of Mr Bo’s relatives. Party sources said the relative was his wife, Gu Kaila.

The General Office remarks said Mr Bo was “displeased” with Mr Wang because of the investigation, and transferred him to the city’s education department, in violation of a rule requiring him to first notify the ministry of public security in Beijing.

Fearing for his safety, Mr Wang entered the US consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu on 6 February and submitted a written request for asylum. Mr Wang left of his own accord a day later and was flown to Beijing for questioning by the ministry of state security. He has not been heard from since.

A former commerce minister and head of industrial Liaoning province, Mr Bo remains on the party’s 25-member Politburo and his ultimate fate remains unknown. While the transcript did not indicate he was charged with any crimes, it said that, as Chongqing’s top official, Mr Bo had “main leadership responsibility” for the Wang affair.

It said: “Once this issue has been thoroughly and clearly investigated, there will again be a final conclusion and the taking of appropriate action.”

Most Chinese officials or their families are believed to be engaged in some form of corruption or abuse of their positions, and its unlikely Mr Bo would have been harmed by interfering in the investigation if Mr Wang had not fled to the US consulate.

Although Mr Bo claimed as recently as last week to have “no assets”, his flamboyant personality and the much-discussed exploits of his son at Oxford and Harvard have made him a frequent target of such accusations.

During his career, Mr Bo showed a flair for publicity, and alongside his well-publicised clampdown on gangsters, won notoriety for enthusiastically promoting the revival of Cultural Revolution-era songs and stories.

That made him a darling of the country’s remaining Maoists, but also drew criticism for glorifying the memory of one of the most violent and chaotic periods in modern Chinese history.