Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Wang Lijun, former police chief of Chongqing (pictured, right), will be tried on 18 September in Chengdu. It was announced by an official of the Intermediate Court of the city of Sichuan. At the center of the biggest scandal ever experienced by the Chinese leadership over the past 30 years, Wang is accused of deserting his place of work, abuse of power and corruption.
The charges against Wang, a very close associate of former Secretary of Chongqing Bo Xilai, seem tailor-made to avoid implying Bo and save face at the party, which is preparing for the 18th Congress, which will see the transition of power from the Fourth to the Fifth Generation .
In February last year, Wang escaped by hiding in the U.S. consulate in Chengdu, where he applied for asylum. The former police chief feared for his life, after discovering that Kailai Gu, Bo Xilai's wife, was the author of the murder of businessman Neil Heywood. A murder for which Gu was sentenced to death.
Thus, silence still surrounds Bo Xilai, fired from his post as party secretary of Chongqing, stopped in his rise to power of the Politburo, but at the moment only under investigation for some vague "disciplinary irregularities." All this, despite Bo's being the assassin's husband's; having a share in the wealth illicitly accumulated by Heywood, boss and close associate of Wang Lijun.
