Disgraced Chinese leader Bo Xilai was on Thursday charged with bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power by prosecutors in one of the biggest political scandals to hit the ruling Communist Party in decades.
The high-flying former Communist Party Chief of Chongqing Municipality, Bo, was charged with bribery, embezzlement and power abuse, according to Jinan City People’s Procuratorate in Shandong Province. The 64-year-old Communist leader is currently under detention while his wife Gu Kailai is serving a suspended death sentence for the murder of a British national.
Bo’s indictment paper was delivered to the Jinan City Intermediate People’s Court on Thursday and the trial was expected to take place there soon, more than a year after he dropped from sight in one of China’s messiest-ever political scandals.
As a civil servant, Bo took the advantage of his position to seek profits for others and accepted an “extremely large amount” of money and properties, State-run Xinhua news agency reported quoting the indictment paper.
He also embezzled a huge amount of public money and abused his power, seriously harming the interests of the State and people, the document said. He had committed serious crimes and will be indicted on the charges of bribery, embezzlement and power abuse, it said.
Bo had been informed of his legal rights and interviewed by prosecutors. His defending counsels also delivered their opinions, the prosecutors said. The indictment rests speculation that China’s new leadership headed by President Xi Jinping is going slow to punish Bo, who was a princeling.
A high-profile leader, Bo was also regarded as top contender for the new seven member standing committee of the Communist Party China.