Post date: Aug 23, 2013 9:36:6 AM
A Chinese court releases a videotape showing the testimony from Gu Kailai against her husband, ousted politician Bo Xilai.
JINAN CITY, SHANDONG PROVINCE, CHINA (AUGUST 23, 2013) (REUTERS) - A court in east China has released videotaped testimony from Gu Kailai against her husband, disgraced Chinese leader Bo Xilai, who is currently on the second day of his trial on Friday (August 23).
The 64-year-old former Communist Party chief of the southwestern city ofChongqing has been charged with illegally taking almost 27 million yuan ($4.4 million), corruption and abuse of power and will almost certainly be found guilty.Bo was accused of receiving about 21.8 million yuan ($3.56 million) in bribes fromXu Ming, a plastics-to-property entrepreneur who was a close friend and is in custody, and Tang, the general manager of Hong Kong-based export companyDalian International Development Ltd, the court said.
The court also heard video testimony from Gu, dated August 10, in which she said she was aware that Bo was accepting bribes from Xu.
"He did some things… Well, I should say, one thing I knew at that time, Bo Xilai was pretty interested in the Dalian football league. At that time, the Wanda team ran into some problems. Xu Ming wanted to buy this team, and, I'd say that Bo Xilai helped him acquire this," she said.
Bo said he had previously admitted taking some bribes from both Xu and Tang as he had been "under psychological pressure" during the party's earlier investigation against him.
But Bo denied receiving the 21.8 million yuan from Xu or knowing of a villa inFrance that Xu, who was in court, said he helped buy for Bo's wife, Gu Kailai.
After Friday's trial adjourned, a court spokesman read out a statement describing the hearing.
''The hearing lasted for more than three hours this morning. The court continued investigation into charges of taking bribes from Xu Ming, president of Dalian Shide Group, against the defendant, Bo Xilai. The prosecutors showed testimonies fromGu Kailai and Xu Ming to argue that Gu Kailai took money from Xu Ming to buy the real estate property and Bo Xilai was aware of it,'' said Liu Yanjie.
Liu added that Bo was emotionally stable during the morning hearing.
''During the hearing this morning, Bo Xilai was emotionally stable and his physical condition is normal,'' Liu told reporters.
Bo Xilai's court is set to resume at 2 p.m. (0600 GMT).