Bo Xilai Expelled From Party

Bo Xilai Expelled From Party:
The ruling Chinese Communist Party on Friday expelled former rising political star Bo Xilai from its ranks, saying criminal proceedings against him would follow and that Bo was "responsible" for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.

The Party Central Committee said Bo's case would now be handed over to law enforcement agencies after he was stripped of his Party membership and formally removed from his public posts at a meeting in Beijing on Friday, official media reported.

Bo "seriously violated" Party discipline during his tenure as Commerce Minister, as Party secretary of the northeastern port city of Dalian, and, most recently, in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, Xinhua news agency said.

"Bo abused his power, made severe mistakes and bore major responsibility in the Wang Lijun incident and the intentional homicide case of [his wife, Gu] Kailai," it said.

"He took advantage of his office to seek profits for others and received huge bribes personally and through his family."

The Committee had heard how Bo's powerful position was also abused by Gu, the agency said.

"The Bo family accepted a huge amount of money and property from others," it said, adding that "Bo had or maintained improper sexual relationships with a number of women."

The evidence also suggested his involvement in dubious personnel decisions and in "other crimes," Xinhua reported.

"Bo's behaviors have yielded serious consequences, badly undermined the reputation of the Party and the country, created very negative impacts at home and abroad and significantly damaged the cause of the Party and the people," the Central Committee concluded.
Political scandal
Analysts said the Party would likely come down heavily on the charismatic Bo, the "princeling" son of revolutionary veteran Bo Yibo, who has rocked the highest echelons of leadership with the biggest political scandal in two decades.

On Monday, a court in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu handed a 15-year jail term to Bo's former right-hand man and police chief Wang Lijun, after he was found guilty of "bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power, and bribe-taking."

Seven years of the sentence was for the charge of "bending the law for selfish ends" and a further two years was for "abuse of power," with both linked to charges that Wang knew that Bo's wife Gu Kailai was connected to the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood last November and did not pursue the investigation further.

Gu was handed a suspended death sentence last month for Heywood's murder.

The Bo scandal has exposed to public view rifts within the secretive Communist Party, highlighting tensions between Bo's populist, left-wing policies and the supporters of Hu and Xi, ahead of a crucial leadership transition in November.

Bo's detractors say he and Wang waged a campaign of terror in Chongqing, using their "strike black" anti-crime campaigns to target innocent businessmen and confiscate their assets. Lawyers linked to the campaigns have described torture and forced confessions as commonplace during Bo's tenure there.

Bo was removed from his post in Chongqing, where he had been regarded as a top contender for a seat on the all-powerful standing committee of the Politburo, on March 15, shortly after a strongly worded warning from premier Wen Jiabao that a failure to enact political reform in China could see a return to the turmoil and violence of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
'No evidence' of poisoning
In a new twist to the drama, a prominent Chinese government forensic scientist cast doubt on the official version of the scandal on Thursday, saying there was "no evidence" to support the claim that Heywood died from cyanide poisoning.

In a post to her blog that has since been removed, Wang Xuemei, a forensic expert with the top prosecutors' agency, said the official accounts lack sufficient evidence that Heywood died from cyanide poisoning, which she describes as leaving the body obviously discolored, the Associated Press reported.

Wang confirmed in a phone interview Thursday that she is the author of the blog entry posted late Wednesday detailing her suspicions about the case. She said she has had no access to the evidence, but points out discrepancies in details that have been made public.

Rights activists and lawyers have also condemned the lack of transparency surrounding Bo's case, as well as Wang and Gu's trials, saying the Party has kept a tight lid on crucial details of the scandal.

Reported by Luisetta Mudie.