China charges police chief at heart of Bo Xilai scandal

Beijing:  China has charged the former police chief at the heart of China’s biggest political uproar in decades, Wang Lijun, with defection, abuse of power and bribe taking, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_444887” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bo Xilai. Getty Images[/caption] Wang fled to a US consulate in southwestern China in February, days after his dismissal as police chief of Chongqing, the nearby municipality then run by the high-flying politician Bo Xilai. Wang stayed inside the consulate for about 24 hours before leaving, and sources have said he told US diplomats and later Chinese officials that he believed Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, was behind the murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood. Bo was dismissed from his Chongqing post in March and remains out of sight, though he has yet to face charges. His wife was given a suspended death sentence on August 9 on charges of poisoning Heywood. Reuters