C
hinese prosecutors have charged the wife of disgraced former official Bo Xilai and a family employee with the murder of a British businessman, in connection with a political scandal that has embarrassed the Chinese leadership.
The
official Xinhua news agency reports Bo's wife Gu Kailai, and the employee Zhang Xiaojun, recently were charged with "intentional homicide" in the death of Neil Heywood, who had business dealings with the couple.
Xinhua said Gu and Zhang are suspected of poisoning Heywood, who was found dead in a hotel last November. Chinese authorities initially attributed his death to a heart attack or excessive drinking.
The report said Gu and her son had a disagreement with Heywood over "economic interests." Prosecutors also said Gu was worried about what they called "Heywood's threat to her son's personal security."
It is the first time China has confirmed a motive for the alleged murder and provided details about how the couple's son, Bo Guagua, is connected to the case. The younger Bo recently graduated from a program at Harvard University in the United States, but his whereabouts were not immediately known.
