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A Chinese
business tycoon with reported links to disgraced Communist party official Bo
Xilai has been detained, state media reported, in the latest twist to a major
political scandal.
Xu Ming,
one of the richest people in China, was taken into custody on March 15, said
the ENN Weekly, a magazine backed by the official Xinhua news agency, in a
report posted on its Web site.
Xu, whose
company Shide Group sponsors a Chinese football club, was detained by a
powerful body which investigates corruption within the ranks of the ruling
Communist party, the magazine said in a report dated Saturday.
The report,
which could not be independently confirmed, gave no details about the
allegations against Xu, or his links to Bo, who was ousted as party leader of
the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing also on March 15.
Xu was
based in China’s northeast city of Dalian, where Bo served as mayor and
Communist party chief over a decade ago before rising up the ranks.
Hong Kong
newspapers have reported that the two men were friends, and that Xu helped fund
the education of Bo’s son Bo Guagua, who attended Oxford University and the
elite British school Harrow.
The
Shanghai Daily newspaper said Xu, who is worth 4.4 billion yuan ($700 million)
according to Forbes magazine, had lost contact with his company the Shide
Group, which had revenues of 12 billion yuan last year.
He had been
scheduled to attend the annual Boao Forum, a major gathering of Asian political
and business leaders being hosted by China this week, but reportedly failed to
make an appearance.
A
spokeswoman for the forum declined to comment. Shide officials could not be
reached on Tuesday, a public holiday in China.
Bo was
removed from his post the same day as Xu was reportedly detained and a day
after the country’s annual parliamentary session closed with a call from
Premier Wen Jiabao for urgent political reform in China.
During his
time as Chongqing party secretary, Bo led a high-profile anti-graft campaign
that riveted China and drew praise but also fierce criticism.
Scores of
mobsters and corrupt officials were jailed or executed in the campaign, but
there have since been allegations that due process was ignored and torture used
to extract confessions.
Agence France-Presse
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