06-11-2012, 05:33 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-11-2012, 09:28 PM by Peter Lemkin.)
Neil Heywood 'was MI6 informant'
Neil Heywood, the British businessman murdered in China, regularly provided information on Bo Xilai, the powerful politician, to MI6 before he was killed, a new report has claimed.
Some say Neil Heywood acted as a sort of 'butler' for the Bo family
By Malcolm Moore, Beijing
10:07AM GMT 06 Nov 2012
The revelation in the Wall Street Journal raises new questions about the motives for Mr Heywood's killing, and about the reaction to his death by the British authorities, who delayed for several months before asking for an investigation.
According to unnamed sources, the 41-year-old businessman was not an MI6 officer, was not specifically tasked, and was not paid.
William Hague, the Foreign secretary, has stated that Mr Heywood was "not an employee of the British government in any capacity".
But, according to the report, he was a "willful and knowing informant", regularly meeting with a man he knew to be a spy, at least once also in the company of a member of the House of Lords.
His MI6 contact once described him as "useful" to a former colleague, according to the WSJ, adding: "A little goes a long way".
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A BRITISH businessman murdered by the wife of top Chinese politician Bo Xilai had informed on the couple for over a year to his country's spy agency.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Neil Heywood shared details derived from his unusually close access to the powerful couple, the paper said, citing his friends and current and former British officials.
The revelation that Heywood was murdered brought down Mr Bo and revealed rifts among top leaders as they negotiated a once-a-decade power handover set to take place this month.
"He had been knowingly providing information about the Bo family to Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, for more than a year," the report said.
It said Heywood became close to the family in the 1990s when Mr Bo was mayor of the northeastern city of Dalian. He was found dead in November last year in the southwestern city of Chongqing, which Mr Bo ran at the time.
Heywood drove a silver Jaguar with the licence plate "007", although people who knew him said he kept a low profile among fellow expatriates, the Journal said.
He operated a consultancy that relied on his connections to advise businesses how to manage Chinese bureaucracy.
After meeting someone in 2009 who later acknowledged being an MI6 officer, Heywood "met that person regularly in China" and provided "information on Mr Bo's private affairs", the paper said.
Mr Bo's wife was given a suspended death sentence in August for poisoning Heywood. Mr Bo was removed from the ruling Communist Party's top 25-member Politburo and now awaits trial for abuse of power and other charges.
Heywood's links with the family frayed in the last two years of his life. He had not seen Mr Bo for a year when he apparently sought to obtain money which he thought the family owed him as he prepared to leave China, the report said.
The businessman seemed to have grown stressed, having gained weight and begun smoking more, and was increasingly worried that his email and phone calls were being monitored.
When he flew to Chongqing to meet the Bo family, he feared he was in trouble, a friend who spoke to him that day told the Journal.
However, neither Chinese nor British officials pointed to Heywood's spy links as a reason for his murder, it said.
His death was initially attributed to alcohol consumption. Mr Bo's police chief and four subordinates were jailed in September for attempting to cover up the role of Mr Bo's wife.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report and the British embassy spokesman in Beijing could not immediately be reached.
Neil Heywood, the British businessman murdered in China, regularly provided information on Bo Xilai, the powerful politician, to MI6 before he was killed, a new report has claimed.
Some say Neil Heywood acted as a sort of 'butler' for the Bo family
By Malcolm Moore, Beijing
10:07AM GMT 06 Nov 2012
The revelation in the Wall Street Journal raises new questions about the motives for Mr Heywood's killing, and about the reaction to his death by the British authorities, who delayed for several months before asking for an investigation.
According to unnamed sources, the 41-year-old businessman was not an MI6 officer, was not specifically tasked, and was not paid.
William Hague, the Foreign secretary, has stated that Mr Heywood was "not an employee of the British government in any capacity".
But, according to the report, he was a "willful and knowing informant", regularly meeting with a man he knew to be a spy, at least once also in the company of a member of the House of Lords.
His MI6 contact once described him as "useful" to a former colleague, according to the WSJ, adding: "A little goes a long way".
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A BRITISH businessman murdered by the wife of top Chinese politician Bo Xilai had informed on the couple for over a year to his country's spy agency.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Neil Heywood shared details derived from his unusually close access to the powerful couple, the paper said, citing his friends and current and former British officials.
The revelation that Heywood was murdered brought down Mr Bo and revealed rifts among top leaders as they negotiated a once-a-decade power handover set to take place this month.
"He had been knowingly providing information about the Bo family to Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, for more than a year," the report said.
It said Heywood became close to the family in the 1990s when Mr Bo was mayor of the northeastern city of Dalian. He was found dead in November last year in the southwestern city of Chongqing, which Mr Bo ran at the time.
Heywood drove a silver Jaguar with the licence plate "007", although people who knew him said he kept a low profile among fellow expatriates, the Journal said.
He operated a consultancy that relied on his connections to advise businesses how to manage Chinese bureaucracy.
After meeting someone in 2009 who later acknowledged being an MI6 officer, Heywood "met that person regularly in China" and provided "information on Mr Bo's private affairs", the paper said.
Mr Bo's wife was given a suspended death sentence in August for poisoning Heywood. Mr Bo was removed from the ruling Communist Party's top 25-member Politburo and now awaits trial for abuse of power and other charges.
Heywood's links with the family frayed in the last two years of his life. He had not seen Mr Bo for a year when he apparently sought to obtain money which he thought the family owed him as he prepared to leave China, the report said.
The businessman seemed to have grown stressed, having gained weight and begun smoking more, and was increasingly worried that his email and phone calls were being monitored.
When he flew to Chongqing to meet the Bo family, he feared he was in trouble, a friend who spoke to him that day told the Journal.
However, neither Chinese nor British officials pointed to Heywood's spy links as a reason for his murder, it said.
His death was initially attributed to alcohol consumption. Mr Bo's police chief and four subordinates were jailed in September for attempting to cover up the role of Mr Bo's wife.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report and the British embassy spokesman in Beijing could not immediately be reached.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass