The disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, who has not been seen in public for 18 months, is set to stand trial accused of corruption charges and abuse of power, BBC News reported. Analysts suggest he is expected to be found guilty when the trial concludes.
Bo's wife Gu Kailai has already been convicted of murdering United Kingdom businessman Neil Heywood. She has since been given a suspended death sentence. The murder reportedly had been over a business deal gone wrong.
The 64-year-old had been seen a rising star in the Chinese Communist Party. Xilai who hailed from one of China's powerful political families, had been one of the 25 most senior party officials in the country, BBC News reported. He is the son of Bo Yibo, a powerful Communist Party member and revolutionary Red Army commander.
By 2004, Bo Xilai became China's commerce minister after serving time as governor of Liaoning province, BBC News reported. While he had initially been seen as popular with the city's poor and working-class citizens, his flamboyant style and soon his shady dealings made him many enemies, analysts said. By April 2012, with the murder investigation involving his wife, Xilan was stripped of his official posts due to corruption charges.
His downfall has been seen as a dramatic fall from grace by most political analysts in China. State-run Xinhua news agency said that he is accused of accepting a "large amount" of money, properties and embezzling public money, among other claims, BBC reported.
Bo Guagua, Xilai's son, who is preparing to study law at Columbia University, said he hoped that his father will be able to defend himself "without constraints," BBC also reported.
On August 9, Liu Tienan, a former top Chinese economic official, was also expelled from the Communist Party and removed from public offiice since he "accepted huge amounts of bribes," Xinhua news agency reported.
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