A Death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel (29 page)

Wang possessed a clear motive in orchestrating Heywood’s murder.
Nandu Weekly
reported that Wang Lijun aspired to join the Municipal Party Standing Committee after he became deputy mayor of Chongqing in May 2011, and asked Gu Gailai to lobby her husband for Wang’s promotion. Gu dutifully brought up the issue at home, but Bo was incensed by Wang’s relentless requests. Wang never gave up, though, and looked for an opportunity to prove his value to Bo Xilai and make him change his mind.

In the late spring of 2011, families of those who had been imprisoned or executed on corruption- and triad-related crimes during Wang’s anti-crime initiatives had traveled to Beijing in droves to petition the senior leadership—accusing Wang of planting evidence, using torture to extract confessions, and violating due process. As the petition movement gained momentum, Wang Lijun became paranoid that some senior leaders in Beijing might have instigated the petitions and conspired against him. According to a police officer in Chongqing, Wang shared his concerns with Bo Xilai, who simply brushed them aside with the promise that if anything happened, Wang would have Bo’s full backing. However, in May 2011, when two of his former colleagues in Tieling were under investigation, Wang recognized that the scandal was directly aiming at him. He went to Bo again, entreating him to intervene, but Bo declined. Wang became infuriated and disillusioned. He could see clearly that Bo would have no qualms abandoning him or making him a scapegoat if political troubles occurred. For several months, Wang had to see a doctor because he had been suffering from insomnia. The police chief was
also paranoid—he frequently conducted toxicity tests on the food prepared for him at the cafeteria. But in the fall, Wang seemed to have regained his confidence. One of Wang’s colleagues suspected that Wang had made a pact with Bo’s opponents in Beijing in exchange for political protection, because Wang began showing a strong interest in Bo’s personal life around that time and carefully documented his womanizing activities and family finances.

As the conflict between Neil Heywood and Gu Kailai escalated in October 2011, Wang Lijun actively participated in plotting against Heywood, and goaded Gu Kailai into killing him by exaggerating the Briton’s threats against Bo Guagua.

On November 12, 2011, Wang instructed Xu Ming to make false charges to the Chongqing police that Heywood was the ringleader of a drug trafficking network in Sichuan and its neighboring provinces. On that afternoon, Wang helped Gu Kailai remove the wax wrapping from the poison at Gu Kailai’s house. On November 13, following Heywood’s arrival in Chongqing, Wang admitted in court that he had “arranged surveillance and control efforts targeted at Heywood under the pretext that Heywood may have committed drug-related crimes.”
Nandu Weekly
claimed that, at eight o’clock that night, Gu was paralyzed with fear and began to have second thoughts. Wang Lijun showed up at her home. “Wang asked why I hadn’t gone to see Heywood,” recalled Gu. “I said I wasn’t feeling well and that I didn’t want to do it anymore. Wang told me that I have to do it.”

Based on the testimony of Gu’s accomplice, Zhang Xiaojun, Wang stayed inside Gu’s bedroom for twenty minutes. Gu allegedly begged Wang Lijun to conduct the killing, but Wang insisted that she was the perfect candidate for the job because Heywood would not become suspicious around her. Wang also told Gu that she was eliminating a dangerous British spy for the country. Before Gu left, Wang told the kitchen staff to prepare a bowl of noodle soup to boost her energy. Then, he ordered Gu’s driver to get the car ready.

Gu went ahead as planned and arrived at the Lucky Holiday Hotel with Zhang Xiaojun at about nine o’clock. She got Heywood drunk and supposedly added several drops of rat poison to Heywood’s tea. However, the rat poison did not contain enough cyanide to kill Heywood.
By the time Gu left the hotel room, Heywood had passed out but was not dead. One version that is widely circulated on the Internet said Gu could not get herself to poison Heywood. Instead, they simply consumed the alcohol and by the time Gu left, Heywood had blacked out, drunk.

According to
Nandu Weekly
, Gu Kailai borrowed her driver’s mobile phone and called Wang Lijun, but there was no answer. Gu reached the deputy police chief and asked, “Where is the Devil?” [Wang Lijun’s nickname.] The deputy police chief found Wang in his office, informing him that Gu was looking for him. Wang responded impatiently, “Okay, I know.” The deputy police chief told the court that Wang Lijun was deliberately avoiding Gu Kailai. A well-connected source with the Chongqing police department claimed that Wang Lijun, who had been monitoring Heywood, became upset that Gu Kailai did not kill Heywood as she had promised.

According to the source, Wang might have driven to the hotel later, sneaked into Heywood’s room, and finished him off with a piece of soft material that did not leave any marks around the neck. The unidentified footsteps that investigators found on the balcony might have been Wang’s. This scenario also explained why Heywood’s body displayed no prominent signs of cyanide poisoning.

“Wang wanted Heywood to die,” said my source. “Heywood’s death would give Wang the clout to control Gu Kailai and blackmail Bo Xilai.”

Furthermore, Wang was well-versed in criminology. If he truly intended to protect Gu, he would have taught her how to destroy evidence, such as removing fingerprints from the mugs and blocking the hotel security camera. “The fact that Wang did not do anything indicated his intention to frame Gu Kailai,” continued my source.

On November 14, Wang Lijun went to Gu’s residence and coaxed Gu into describing the murder process. Gu admitted killing Heywood and her confession was left on Wang’s tape recorder. The taped confession was used as a critical piece of evidence against Gu. The tape was only mentioned, but never played, in court. There is no way of knowing whether Wang had altered or edited the tape.

According to a Chongqing police officer, Gu willingly declared that she had poisoned Heywood because she was worried Wang would blame her for breaching her promise. Also, admission of her weakness could fuel the rumor that she had feelings for Heywood. Therefore, Gu later bragged to Xu Ming that she had added three drops of poison to the tea—even though one was potent enough to kill Heywood.

On November 15, 2012, hotel staff found Heywood’s body. Wang Lijun excused himself from the investigation and assigned four police officers without removing any incriminating evidence from the crime scene. Wang’s intent was clear—allowing other officers to discover Gu’s involvement and clearing any suspicion that he might have framed Gu. In addition, Wang secretly drew some blood from Heywood’s body and took it home. Given that Wang was a seasoned forensic expert, there is every reason to suspect that he tampered with the blood work.

One wonders why Wang would take a gamble on killing a Briton, which could turn into a diplomatic dispute and attract Beijing’s attention if discovered. A princeling in Beijing whose father used to work for the Ministry of Public Security said Heywood had been on the watch list of China’s intelligence agency. As Chongqing’s police chief, Wang Lijun was made aware of Heywood’s possible connection with MI6, the British spy agency. Therefore, Heywood’s death would be a safe bet—the British government would not pressure China to pursue any investigation for fear of exposing Heywood’s true identity. On the other hand, Bo Xilai would also beg Wang to cover up Heywood’s death because neither Bo nor the Chinese government wanted the public to learn that a British spy had infiltrated a senior leader’s family.

After Heywood was cremated and the investigation was closed, Wang Lijun once again broached to Gu the topic of the corruption scandal in Tieling as well as his desire to join the Municipal Party Standing Committee. Gu talked with her husband again, lavishing praises on Wang and beseeching Bo to reconsider Wang’s request. When Bo ignored Gu’s plea, Gu was said to have fiercely argued with Bo. The two reportedly did not speak for days.

On the night of December 11, Wang’s colleagues told
Nandu Weekly
that Wang Lijun had received news that the city was conducting background checks on him for a possible promotion. Wang immediately gathered his subordinates for an emergency meeting. Wang claimed that he convened the meeting to discuss “how to build a clean government,” but actually used the occasion to clean up his record. Wang announced that the four cars that had been solely assigned to him could now be used by anyone. “Those are not my cars. They belonged to everyone.” In addition, he disclosed that the owner of a big coal mine had donated three floors in a luxury apartment building for his personal use. The property was worth 10 million yuan (US $1.6 million) and he had decided to give it back to the city. All attendees were puzzled by Wang’s “generosity” before they found out about his true intention.

A week later, the news about Wang’s promotion proved to be false. Wang Lijun stepped up his pressure on Gu, threatening to expose her role in Heywood’s murder if her husband refused to promote him. In the face of Wang’s blackmail, Gu became paranoid and her mental condition worsened. Then, while Wang Lijun was in Beijing, she raided his office, stating to Wang’s staff members and daughter that she was collecting evidence to illustrate that Wang was a corrupt official who lived a decadent lifestyle. Moreover, she said she would report Wang to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

As his relationship with Gu traveled irreversibly downhill,
Nandu Weekly
said Wang decided to report the case to Bo Xilai, and on January 14, 2012, Wang called the four investigators to his office, instructing them to each write a resignation letter, which, he said, should contain four points:

       
1.
  
They had discovered strong evidence to suggest that the party chief’s wife, K, was connected with Neil Heywood’s death,

       
2.
  
K forced them to violate the law by concealing and destroying evidence,

       
3.
  
K invited them to dinner and allegedly put knockout drops in their liquor, and

       
4.
  
K had illegally searched the offices and homes of Wang and his staff members.

Separately, Wang Lijun ordered the deputy police chief to attach the internal investigation report on Heywood’s death and had the investigators state they could no longer serve the city in good conscience. Wang Lijun told the investigators that he did not really want them to resign. Their letters would simply be used to pressure Bo Xilai to rein in his wife.

Then came the fateful January 29 meeting with Bo where Wang was slapped in the face. On their way back from Bo’s office after the incident, Guo Weiguo, the former deputy police chief, remembered complaining to Wang, “We should have pursued the murder investigation from the very beginning. All of our cover-up efforts have amounted to nothing.” Wang Lijun disagreed, saying, “I think we have achieved 80 percent of our goal.” According to
Nandu Weekly
, Wang Lijun declined Guo’s suggestion that they should report the case to the Ministry of Public Security. “Wang tried to use the case for personal gains,” said Guo.

The next day, Wang wrote a letter to Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai, apologizing for his “mistakes” and blaming Bo’s chief of staff for instigating their split. The letter did not mend fences and Bo fired Wang Lijun. Two days after Wang was sacked, Gu Kailai met with Wang in his office after she had heard from other police officers that Wang had implicated her in seven more murders. Wang allegedly slapped his own face in repentance. Gu sobbed and said she had forgiven him. The two were seen having lunch at police headquarters. But Bo no longer trusted Wang. After Wang had learned that Bo planned to eliminate him, he fled.

If Wang had murdered Neil Heywood, many wondered why he would run to the US Consulate. An official familiar with the case said Wang had no other choice—he had originally intended to go to Beijing, but his friends there talked him out of it. If he had gone into hiding in a remote part of China, he would have been arrested sooner or later. And Wang was certain he could meet the asylum criteria—he had evidence to show that his own life was in danger because he had attempted to expose the murder of a British citizen. Besides, as a senior
official, he could provide valuable intelligence to the Americans. If his asylum request was denied, his own attempted defection and revelations about Heywood’s murder could provide major headlines in Western countries. The publicity would get Beijing’s attention. Wang would also state that Bo had planned a coup to depose Xi Jinping, the designated new party general secretary. The allegation would no doubt cause rifts between Bo and other senior leaders, who would step in and shield Wang from Bo’s retaliation. Wang’s gamble paid off—he saved his own life and destroyed Bo’s political career.

In April 2012, a princeling, whose father was a senior Communist official in the Deng era, contended that Wang Lijun had notified a Politburo Standing Committee member about Gu Kailai’s plan to kill Neil Heywood. “This senior leader must have instructed Wang to go along with the plot and make it happen,” said the princeling. “Otherwise, Wang Lijun wouldn’t have been so bold and relentless.” The princeling also pointed out that Wang had planned to travel to Beijing after he was sacked, but the senior official stopped Wang because he wouldn’t be in a position to save him. The official advised Wang to try the US Consulate. “Wang had never intended to apply for political asylum,” said the princeling. “His sole purpose was to make Bo’s scandal an international incident, forcing the party elders such as Jiang Zemin to take action against Bo. Without such stunts, it would be impossible to defeat Bo, who was so well connected in Beijing.”

I choose not to disclose the senior official’s name because I have not been able to verify the princeling’s assertions, but from what happened, it is safe to say the anti-Bo forces in Beijing saw the Heywood murder as a perfect justification to oust Bo. The senior leadership sided with Wang and used Wang’s words against Bo and his wife. It was a win-win situation—Bo Xilai and his wife are now safely locked behind bars and a potentially dangerous British secret agent has been eliminated.