BO Xilai Case Mushrooms

choi

(1) Malcolm Moore, Dozens Under Arrest in China in Connection With Bo Xilai Scandal. Daily Telegraph, Apr 19, 2012 (available now).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ ... -Xilai-scandal.html

(a) "At least 39 people are thought to be being held, alongside Mr Bo, in the seaside town of Beidaihe * * * 'The detainees include Xu Ming * * *  *,' said Wang Kang * * * 'The detainees are mainly people from Dalian and other places, not from Chongqing,' he added. * * * One of the people in custody is Xia Deling, the former party chief of Nan'an district in Chongqing, the area in which Mr Heywood's body was discovered, on November 15, in the Nanshan Lijing Holiday Hotel.

(b) "Allegations that Mr Heywood had been romantically involved, at some point, with Mrs Gu remain unclear. Mr Wang said that the same source that told him about a quarrel [about money transfer] between Mr Bo and his police chief, Wang Lijun, also said there 'had been a relationship' between Mr Bo's wife and Mr Heywood. However, other sources in Chongqing, close to the police investigation, told Reuters that the relationship was platonic.

(c) "Until the drama ended the careers of Mr Bo and Mr Wang, the pair had run Chongqing as a personal fief, spending lavishly and, on occasion, ignoring regulations.

"Mr Wang, for example, began construction on an enormous monument to "Police Martyrs", ordering the top of one of Chongqing's mountains, Geleshan, to be closed off and rebuilt. Yesterday, construction had been halted on the £590,000 project, but the area was still closed off. Workers inside confirmed that it was Mr Wang's decision to build the monument.

"One source with knowledge of the planned monument, comprising a 'Wall of Heroes' and a series of columns rising to the top of the mountain, said the area was a protected national forest park and that Mr Wang had not obtained any permits from either the National Forestry Bureau or the Bureau of Parks and Woods. 'He simply ordered it to be built,' the source said.


(2) Lucy Bannerman, Neil Heywood Was ‘Having Affair With Party Chief’s Wife.’  Times of London, Apr 18, 2012.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ ... 64oi6-1226331316487

My comment:
(a) Again, at least one of the two sources is Chinese who is  knowledgable of Chinese investigation.
(b) The title and publication date is that of Time of London.

(3) Steven Lee Myers, Frenzied Hours for US on Fate of a China Insider; Tumult of asylum bid; A tale of corruption and an escort to Beijing past local forces. New York Times, Apr 18, 2012 (front page).
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/1 ... ina-scandal.html?hp

Excerpt in the window of print: Seeking a minimal role in a politically sensitive episodes.

My comment:
(a) This is a high-ranking US official speaking in background delineating US positions so far.
(b) The excerpt says it all, whose omitted subject is US (executive branch, specifically).

(4) John Burns, Britain Presses for Information on Death in China; In shift, officials pursue answers. New York Times, Apr 18, 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/1 ... heywoods-death.html

Quote:

(a) "After months of soft-pedaling by British diplomats in the case of a British businessman believed to have been murdered in China, Prime Minister David Cameron and his government abruptly changed course on Tuesday, going to Parliament with a blunt demand that China 'expose the truth behind this tragic case' and do so in a manner that 'is free from political interference.'”  paragraph 1

(b) "Chinese officials told British officials and the Heywood family at the time that Mr Heywood’s body had lain in a hotel room in Chongqing’s hilly southern suburbs for as long as 24 hours before it was discovered, and that the Chinese authorities had concluded that the cause of death was 'overconsumption of alcohol,' a sequence confirmed by Mr [UK Foreign Secretary William] Hague on Tuesday.

"The foreign secretary said the next step, cremation of the body in Chongqing on Nov 18, had been approved by the Heywood family, apparently a reference to Wang LuLu, Mr Heywood’s wife, who is reported to have traveled to Chongqing from their home in Beijing immediately after she learned of his death. Mr Hague said a British diplomat attended the cremation but made no mention of the fact that it took place without a post-mortem, contributing to suspicions among Mr Heywood’s friends and associates in China. Nor did he mention that friends and associates of Mr Heywood have said that he was a very light drinker, and was described by his family as having been in good health.

My comment: There is no need to read the rest of the report.


(5) Kathrin Hille, China Official Quizzed in Heywood Case; A party secretary with links to Bo Xilai's family is helping police with their inquiries. Financial Times, Apr 18, 2012.

Quote:

(a) "Xia Zeliang, Communist party secretary of Chingqing Nan'an district where the hotel is located, allegedly provided the poison and used security personnel from his district to secure the area the night that Mr Heywood died, officials and insiders familiar with the investigation said.

(b) "The hotel in which Mr Heywood stayed is respectable if slightly shabby. On Monday night, the floor in the dimly lit lobby was strewn with cigarette butts. In the rooms, there was brown faux-wood flooring and yellowing wall paper, peeling away from the walls on its edges. The nightclub, an aged hall that distinguishes itself from the breakfast room mainly by its purple curtains, was closed.

(c) "Receptionists [at the hotel] said they knew nothing about a murder there. Two other hotel employees said several staff had been transferred away late last year.

(d) "'Bo Xilai was by no means alone--there are others who support him, who support a Maoist line, and who wanted to grab power,' said Wang Kang, a Chongqing-based entrepreneur and intellectual.

"'As long as the party doesn't drag them out and show what they're up to, this crisis will not be overcome.' He referred to Zhou Yongkang, the party's top security official, as Mr Bo's main backer.

My comment: There is no need to read the rest.