Bo Xilai embezzlement charge linked to Jiang Zemin holiday home: sources
Sources say that 5m yuan ex-Politburo member is accused of taking was meant to cover cost of a holiday home in Dalian for former president
The five million yuan (HK$6.3 million) that Bo Xilai is accused of embezzling was money from the Communist Party headquarters to pay for a villa for then president Jiang Zemin , sources with knowledge of the deal revealed yesterday.
Bo's handling of the payment while serving as Liaoning governor in 2002 was the sole allegation of embezzlement detailed at his trial last month.
Publicly released court transcripts said only that the amount came from a higher authority to pay for a classified public project in Dalian , where Bo was previously mayor and party boss.
But two separate sources with close ties to elite Dalian politics told the South China Morning Post that the General Office of the party's Central Committee sent the money to the seaport city upon its completion of a holiday home for Jiang, who was then nearing retirement as president and party chief.
The money was later allegedly funnelled to Bo's wife, Gu Kailai , via a law firm with Bo's approval, court papers said. Jiang visited Dalian in 1999 to mark the 100th anniversary of the modern commercial port. He stayed for about 10 days - an unusually long period for a presidential visit.
"Jiang expressed his love of the port city during his visit," one of the sources said.