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China's Bo Xilai under formal criminal probe: Xinhua
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Oct 26, 2012


China's biggest political scandals
Beijing (AFP) Oct 26, 2012 - Following the New York Times' investigation into the wealth of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's family, here is a list of major scandals affecting the Chinese Communist Party over the last two decades:

1995: Beijing mayor Chen Xitong is sacked and two years later jailed for 16 years for corruption, becoming the first member of the senior 25-member Politburo to be jailed since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. He is granted medical parole in 2004.

2000: Parliamentary vice chairman Cheng Kejie is executed for having taken $4.6 million in bribes in collaboration with his mistress while previously serving in Guangxi province.

2008: Shanghai party boss Chen Liangyu becomes the highest-ranking official convicted of graft since Chen Xitong, who is not a relation. He is sentenced to 18 years in jail for his role in a scheme to illegally siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars from the city's pension fund to invest in real estate.

2008: A massive scandal of contaminated milk powder -- that leads to the death of six infants and sickens 300,000 -- exposes the lack of regulation in an industry rife with cheating. Two suppliers are executed the next year for producing and selling tainted product, the head of the major dairy company Sanlu, Tian Wenhua, is given life in prison and 18 others are given punishments from two years' jail to a suspended death sentence.

2011: Railways Minister Liu Zhijun is sacked and investigated for taking more than 800 million yuan ($127 million) in bribes while doling out contracts for the rapid expansion of China's booming high-speed railway system. He is now awaiting trial.

2012: Bo Xilai, party chief of the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, is accused of abuse of power, taking bribes and improper sexual relations, in the biggest political scandal in two decades. His wife Gu Kailai, who was given a suspended death sentence a month earlier for murdering a British citizen, is accused of using Bo's name to secure "huge financial benefits" for relatives and associates.

Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai has been placed under criminal investigation, state media said Friday, after he was expelled from the country's parliament and stripped of his legal immunity.

The announcement follows intense speculation on the fate of the former party boss of the southwestern city of Chongqing in the lead-up to a once-in-a-decade leadership transition set to begin on November 8.

State news agency Xinhua said the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) removed Bo from his post late last month, but made the announcement only on Friday at a bi-monthly session.

"According to the law on the deputies to NPC and to local people's congresses, his post was terminated," Xinhua said, quoting a statement from the standing committee at the end of a four-day meeting.

The report also said that Bo had "borne major responsibility" for the murder of a British businessman that resulted in his downfall, without elaborating.

A later Xinhua report said the Supreme People's Procuratorate had "decided to put Bo Xilai under investigation for alleged criminal offences, as well as impose coercive measures on him in accordance with the law".

"The investigation is under way," Xinhua, in a brief English-language report, quoted a statement as saying.

The focus will now shift to when Bo will face trial for a litany of alleged crimes, with most commentators suggesting the court case will be after the Communist Party Congress next month at which new leaders will be selected.

Li Xiaolin, a lawyer who had been appointed by the Bo family, told AFP Friday that he did not expect the court case to be held until after the congress.

Party chiefs are set to meet for the Communist Party Central Committee's 7th Plenary Session on November 1 to formally approve the convening of the congress and confirm the decision made last month to remove Bo from the party.

Bo's expulsion from the NPC comes after state media announced last month that he would "face justice" for alleged abuse of power, taking bribes and improper sexual relations.

This was seen as an unprecedented public rebuke for a senior Chinese party official as authorities looked to lay to rest a damaging episode that shocked China and saw Bo's wife convicted of murder.

Bo, the party boss of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, had been seen as a candidate for promotion to the party's top echelons.

But he was brought down earlier this year by murder allegations against his wife Gu Kailai that came to light when Bo's key aide and police chief Wang Lijun sought refuge in the US consulate and detailed a string of alleged crimes.

His wife was handed a suspended death sentence -- commonly commuted to a life sentence -- for fatally poisoning British businessman Neil Heywood.

The Xinhua report also said Bo -- who is expected to face a lengthy prison sentence -- had "seriously violated CPC (Communist Party Congress) disciplines".

Bo was earlier removed from his Chongqing post, with analysts saying the affair exposed deep divisions within the party as he retains a large following among left-leaning members.

In response to the opening of the NPC meeting this week, hundreds of Bo's supporters urged the parliament in an online petition not to expose him to a potentially unfair trial.

"The entire trial involving the Bo case has the problems of facts that are unclear, evidence that is neither reliable nor adequate and procedures that are not lawful," the letter on the leftist Red China website said.

There were more than 500 signatories in support of Bo, who had championed a "red revival" before his downfall.

The Communists had hoped for a smooth build-up to a congress that is tightly scripted to underline the party's claim to be the only legitimate force capable of ruling the world's most populous nation.

But the party has instead been rocked by the Bo case and the details of murder, million-dollar deals and the affluent lifestyles of the Communist Party power elite that it laid bare.

The congress typically lasts about one week and ends with the traditional unveiling of a new Politburo line-up that this year is expected to see Vice President Xi Jinping promoted to Communist Party general-secretary.

burs-pdh/gk

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