The trial of China's disgraced Communist leader Bo Xilai took an intriguing turn on the first day as he distanced himself from his wife when it was alleged that she and their son were beneficiaries of corruption and abuse of power.
Former chairman of the Dalian Shide Group, Xu Ming, who has worked with Bo in the past, told the trial court in Jinnan today that Bo contributed USD 3.23 million in his wife Gu Kailai's acquisition of a villa in France.
Bo, 64, son of former top Communist Party of China (CPC) leader, was the chief of Communist party in Chongqing city before being ousted last year.
He also served as mayor of the city of Dalian, governor of northeast China's Liaoning Province and China's minister of commerce.
During the trial, Bo said he had little contact with his wife not only when she was abroad, but also when she returned in 2007 and after they moved to Chongqing.
Bo said he had no knowledge of a villa in Nice in the south of France.
Meanwhile, Xu also said he paid for a trip to Africa by Bo's US-based son, Bo Guagua, along with his credit card expenses amounting to 300,000 yuan (USD 50,000) and an electric vehicle, according to the micbroblog accounts of the court quoted by the South China Morning Post.
However, Bo said that the few times they met, his wife "has never mentioned things like Xu Ming paying for flight tickets or accommodation."
Bo also said that he did not know of any financial support his son received from Xu and that he never talked about the issue with his son.
Gu currently in prison, serving a suspended death sentence for the murder of a British national Neil Haywood, said she took several hundreds of thousands of yuan and tens of thousands of US dollars from a shared safe in their homes in Shenyang and Beijing.
She used the funds while she was staying with their son in Great Britain, the prosecution said.
Recent media reports pointed to a villa in nearby Cannes, which Heywood allegedly managed for the Bo family.
It is significant that Bo Guagua's name was mentioned as one of the beneficiaries. Guagua, currently studying in US, has issued a statement ahead of today's trial urging the government not to use him as pawn to get testimony from Gu against Bo.
Bo clarified that he was treated "in a civilised manner" by party investigators since his arrest. "But this does not exclude the mental pressure I just mentioned," he said.
"I am not a perfect man, I am also not strong-willed man, and I am willing to assume legal responsibility for succumbing to that pressure," he said.
The trial resumes tomorrow.
