Bo Xilai leaves the Jinan Intermediate People＇s Court building in a vehicle in Jinan, Shandong province in this photo taken by Kyodo, August 23, 2013.
The trial of former Chinese Communist Party politician Bo Xilai on charges of official corruption has entered an unexpected third day.
The prosecutor read a statement that Bo made in April, in which he said he knew that more than $800,000 had been taken from a government building project and put in his wife＇s account, but that he had not embezzled the funds.
In the statement, Bo apologized for not doing anything to stop the theft or retrieve the money.
In Friday＇s session, Bo dismissed testimony from his wife that implicated him in wrongdoing, calling her insane, and describing her testimony as "laughable."
With the trial in the eastern city of Jinan closed to Western reporters, Bo＇s comments are being taken from state media reports and lengthy trial transcripts posted on Chinese social media.
Bo＇s testimony followed a dramatic video posted online in which his imprisoned wife, Gu Kailai, said Bo was aware that a wealthy businessman had given the family a string of expensive gifts, described by prosecutors as bribes.
Bo was removed as party secretary of Chongqing and ousted from the Politburo last year, after that city＇s former police chief fled to a U.S. consulate with evidence about the Bo family＇s alleged involvement in the 2011 murder of a British businessman.
Prosecutors say Briton Neil Heywood was killed as a result of a financial dispute with Bo＇s wife, who was convicted of the murder last year and given a suspended death sentence, essentially a life term in prison.
The pre-recorded video released Friday provided the public＇s first glimpse of Gu since her sentencing.
Bo also faces abuse of power charges that accuse him of trying to obstruct the police probe of the Heywood murder. He is facing additional charges of embezzling $800,000 in government money set aside for a construction project.
Analysts say China＇s top political leaders almost certainly decided beforehand that Bo would be found guilty and receive a lengthy prison sentence, as in other sensitive political trials in China.
State broadcaster CCTV originally reported that the trial would last only two days and that a verdict was expected in early September.
|
|
