A task force sent by Beijing is investigating claims that disgraced former Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai and his family hold huge assets in Hong Kong, sources say.
The task force will also investigate the origins of rumours surrounding Zhou Yongkang, the mainland's top security official, the sources said.
'The working group which has been investigating issues relating to Bo and Zhou has already arrived in Hong Kong,' according to one source. 'One of their main tasks is to investigate the Bo family's connections and the alleged huge amount of assets held by the family in Hong Kong. They also want to know how Hong Kong people see Zhou, and the relations between Bo and Zhou.'
Another source confirmed that Beijing had already sent a team to Hong Kong to look into assets reportedly belonging to Bo, his wife Gu Kailai and their siblings. The team will investigate how those assets were transferred to Hong Kong and overseas.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong government declined to comment.
Bo Xiyong, Bo Xilai's elder brother, is apparently an executive director and deputy general manager of Hong Kong-listed China Everbright International, under an assumed name, 'Li Xueming'. Gu Wangjiang, Gu Kailai's eldest sister who is also known as Kuk Mong-kong in Hong Kong, has held directorships in at least nine companies in Hong Kong over the course of more than two decades.
There has been much speculation that Dalian-based billionaire Xu Ming, chairman of mainland conglomerate Dalian Shide, helped Gu Kailai transfer her assets overseas. Xu rose to prominence as a businessman in the northeastern port city at the time when Bo was its mayor.