Corruption follows well-tested pattern
Given the risks involved, crooked high-ranking officials rely on relatives and trusted businessmen to ferry bribes to safekeeping

China is a land of closely guarded secrets, and the salaries of Politburo members are no exception.
But Yu Zhengsheng, a current member of the Politburo Standing Committee, disclosed at a meeting in 2011 that his monthly salary was 11,000 yuan (HK$13,850) when he was party chief of Shanghai, the Southern Weekly newspaper reported at the time.
If such meagre salaries are the norm, then it would be impossible for senior officials to afford their children's school fees at exclusive private schools abroad, let alone fund a jet-setting lifestyle.
But Bo Xilai's trial revealed in lurid detail some of the schemes that enable modestly paid politicians to accumulate immense wealth through relatives and a circle of trusted businessmen.
Bo testified that his wife Gu Kailai's personal wealth exceeded 40 million yuan a decade ago. Gu was a renowned lawyer in the 1990s and owned a law firm with several offices across the mainland.
