Briefs, January 26, 2013

Court dismisses talk of Bo trial as rumour

The Intermediate People's Court in Guiyang , Guizhou province yesterday denied widespread speculation that disgraced Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai will stand trial there on Monday. "This is a rumour. We have not yet received this case," a court official told the South China Morning Post. The online news portal of Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao had reported that a Guiyang court would hear Bo's case in a trial likely lasting for three days. Choi Chi-yuk, Laura Zhou

Graft watchdog denies alert over home sales

The Communist Party's top graft watchdog denied a report by The Economic Observer last Saturday that it had alerted central authorities to a rash of property sales by senior officials over the past couple of months, state radio reported. A Central Commission for Discipline Inspection official also told China National Radio that it had information only on officials' declared assets and was not able to gather data on transactions in the property market. Shanghai's anti-graft agency also denied in its microblog the weekly's claim that city officials had dumped thousands of luxury apartments. Staff Reporter

Fugitive in case of Chen shooting sent to Taiwan

A fugitive accused of modifying a gun and making the bullets used to shoot and injure then-Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian in 2004 was extradited to the island from the mainland, police said. Tang Shou-yi, arrested in Fujian this month, was returned under a crime-fighting agreement, investigators said. AFP