China ex-police chief gets 15 years jail

Beijing, Sept 24: A

court today

Wang Lijun, the top police official whose defection to US Consulate has sparked off country's biggest political scandal, to 15 years in prison.

Wang, 52, once a close aid and Deputy of disgraced leader of the ruling Communist Party Bo Xilai was sentenced for bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking. The Chengdu City Intermediate People's Court in southwest China's Sichuan Province sentenced him to 15 years in prison, state run Xinhua news agency reported.

Wang, former vice mayor and police chief of Chongqing Municipality, hit the global headlines in February after sneaking into the US Consulate in Chengdu fearing reprisals from Bo, while investigating the involvement of his wife, Gu Kailai in the murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood. Gu has already been given a suspended death sentence in the case.

In his testimony, Wang has implicated Bo alleging that the Party leader heading the Chongqing city has rebuked and slapped him over the probe's into Gu's case. Wang's entry into US mission and subsequent scandal about the involvement of his wife in the murder case has ruined his chances of contesting for some top posts of the ruling Communist Party, which is poised for leadership change this year after a 10 years.

According to an exhaustive testimony of Wang released by state run Xinhua news agency earlier, Bo started intimidating him once he started investigating Gu's role in the case. This is the first time in the entire episode of Heywood murder case, which rocked the party ahead of this year's leadership change, Bo's name obliquely figured.

PTI