Bo's trial continues for third day

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(Xinhua) 09:09, August 24, 2013

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The Jinan Intermediate People's Court on Saturday held the third-day hearing on the case of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power involving Bo Xilai.

Bo, 64, is former secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a former member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau.

During the trial on Saturday morning, prosecutors continued to accuse Bo of embezzling 5 million yuan (817,000 U.S. dollars) of project funds as Wang Zhenggang, then director of the Dalian municipal bureau of urban and rural planning and land, gave testimony in court.

Video-audio materials recorded from Bo's wife, Bogu Kailai, while she was questioned on Aug. 10 were played as testimonies.

Prosecutors also read testimonies by Bogu Kailai; Zhao Dongping, director of the Beijing Angdao law offices; Che Hui, former secretary to Bo; and other witnesses.

Also presented at the court was Bo's admission and statement written by himself, proving that Bo suggested Wang remit 5 million yuan of project funds to the bank account appointed by Bogu Kailai.

Prosecutors, the defendant and his lawyers examined the above evidence.

Bo claimed he did not intend to embezzle the funds, but said he should bear some responsibility for not having closely questioned the remitting of money to Bogu's account.

Bo said he took an "indulgent" attitude to the issue.

Prosecutors said the accusations about the illegal embezzlement of the project funds were presented clearly and the evidence was authentic.

In the previous two days of trial, prosecutors accused Bo of accepting bribes worth about 21.8 million yuan (about 3.5 million U.S. dollars) from businessmen Tang Xiaolin and Xu Ming and embezzling five million yuan in public funds from the Dalian municipal government, but Bo denied the charges.

Bo was also accused of abusing power when dealing with his wife Bogu Kailai's murder case and the defection of his associate, Wang Lijun, in 2012.