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BEIJING — Bo Xilai, the disgraced Communist Party aristocrat, could be tried on criminal charges within weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the case.
BEIJING — Bo Xilai, the disgraced former Communist Party official, was indicted on Thursday on criminal charges of bribery, corruption and abuse of power, paving the way for a prominent trial expected to start within weeks that could be a climactic chapter in a scandal that exposed sordid political machinations at the top levels of the party.
The trial is expected to take place in Shandong Province in eastern China. Mr. Bo was removed in March 2012 from his senior post as party chief of Chongqing, a municipality of 30 million in southwest China. He was later expelled from the Communist Party and its elite 25-member Politburo.
The charges were filed at a court in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, in eastern China, a court employee said. Mr. Bo was removed in March 2012 from his senior post as party chief of Chongqing, a municipality of 30 million in southwest China. He was later expelled from the Communist Party and its elite 25-member Politburo.
The official Chinese state media have yet to announce formal criminal charges against Mr. Bo. Chinese law says the charges must be served to the defendant and any legal representatives at least 10 days before the start of the first trial session.
Officials from Shandong have been in Chongqing recently to discuss trial details there, according to one person in Chongqing with official contacts.
Officials from Shandong who are involved in trial preparation have been in Chongqing recently to discuss details with Chongqing officials, according to one person in the city who has contact with officials and spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals. But there have been many twists in the Bo case, and the vagaries of elite party politics could result in changes to scheduling or venue.
The party’s General Office has circulated an internal document giving further details of the basis for the charges, said one person in Beijing with high-level contacts. The document accused Mr. Bo, 64, of taking about $3.3 million in bribes, embezzling almost $1 million and abusing his power as a senior official. The document also said a main source of the bribes was Xu Ming, a billionaire who lives in Dalian, the northeastern city where Mr. Bo had been the mayor.
An associate of the Bo family who has been informed about the case said the trial could start in early August. Mr. Bo, 64, is expected to be charged with taking bribes and favors worth up to millions of dollars. The resident of Chongqing said embezzlement was another potential charge. The family associate said Mr. Bo also would probably be charged with abuse of power related to a police investigation into the death of Neil Heywood, a British businessman and Bo family associate whose body was discovered in a Chongqing hotel room in November 2011.
Mr. Xu, once listed by Forbes as one of the 10 richest people in China, has been detained since spring 2012 and is also expected to be criminally charged. Mr. Xu entered into real estate ventures in Chongqing after Mr. Bo became party chief there in December 2007, and he made frequent trips on his private plane to the city. Mr. Xu was part of an inner circle of Bo family allies that included Ma Biao, a business executive, and Yu Junshi, a former military intelligence officer who served as a Bo family fixer. All were detained in spring 2012.
Last August, Mr. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, was given a suspended death sentence, which usually equals a life prison term, for murdering Mr. Heywood.
Last August, Mr. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, was given a suspended death sentence, which usually equals a life prison term, for murdering Neil Heywood, a British business executive whose body was discovered in a Chongqing hotel room in November 2011. In February 2012, the Chonging police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to a nearby American consulate to tell officials there of the murder.
Like those of his wife, Mr. Bo’s upcoming court sessions are widely expected to amount to little more than a show trial, in which a verdict has already been negotiated by Communist Party leaders. The revelation in the news media in early 2012 of Mr. Heywood’s death and the subsequent downfall of Mr. Bo threw the party into turmoil, though senior officials quickly united behind plans by Hu Jintao, then the party chief, and Wen Jiabao, the prime minister, to depose Mr. Bo, who had been trying to push a campaign of populist politics in Chongqing in a bid to get on the Politburo Standing Committee in 2012.
Several political analysts said Mr. Bo’s punishment could range from a prison term of 15 to 20 years to a suspended death sentence. Like those of his wife, Mr. Bo’s upcoming court sessions are expected to amount to little more than a show trial, in which a verdict has already been negotiated by Communist Party leaders.
Mr. Bo’s father, Bo Yibo, was one of the top party leaders of the elder generation, and the younger Bo held a certain stature within the party, even if he was widely disliked by other officials. Several political analysts said Mr. Bo’s punishment could range from 15-to-20-year prison term to a suspended death sentence.
Recently, Mr. Bo was said to be at Qincheng Prison in northern Beijing, where he has been locked up for many months, the family associate said.
Mr. Bo resisted cooperating early on, the associate and others said. He rejected the corruption and murder charges as trumped-up and demanded to see senior leaders. He talked of being betrayed by Wang Lijun, the head of the Chongqing police, who in February 2012 fled to a nearby American consulate and told officials there of the Heywood murder. (Mr. Wang was sentenced last year to 15 years in prison on charges including defection, bribe taking and abuse of power.)
Mr. Bo subsequently became more cooperative after being confronted with evidence collected against him and Ms. Gu.
Mr. Bo’s trial has been widely anticipated, though there have been several false reports about when it might start. Last September, when the party announced its expulsion of Mr. Bo, it said his case was being referred to the criminal justice system in preparation for prosecution.
An employee of the Jinan Intermediate People’s Court in Jinan, the capital of Shandong, said on Wednesday when reached by telephone that the court had not received any notice of the Bo trial. The employee, who gave her name as Ms. Yu, also did not rule out the possibility that the trial might take place there.
Mr. Bo would be the first Politburo member to be tried on criminal charges since 2008, when a former Shanghai party secretary, Chen Liangyu, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for corruption.
