BEIJING – Neil Heywood, the British businessman whose death in China is now a key element of China’s biggest political scandal in two decades, was providing periodic consultancy services to a British strategic-intelligence company up until the time he was found dead in the city of Chongqing in November, a spokesman for the firm told The Wall Street Journal.
But Hakluyt & Co, founded by former officers with the British intelligence service MI6, said he was not a full-time employee and was not consulting for them on any projects in Chongqing, whose Communist Party chief, Bo Xilai, was dismissed this month, throwing elite Chinese politics into turmoil.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that suspicions about Heywood’s death had been raised by Wang Lijun, the former Chongqing police chief who triggered the political drama in Chongqing when he sought refuge from Bo in the U.S. Consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu on Feb. 6.
Key Events in Chinese Scandal
Businessman’s death stirs new questions
November 2011 Neil Heywood is found dead in his hotel room in Chongqing.
Feb. 6, 2012 Wang Lijun, vice mayor and former police chief of Chongqing, enters U.S. Consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu, and remains there for the night. Chinese police surround the consulate.
Feb. 7 After talks with Chongqing Mayor Huang Qifan in the consulate, Wang leaves the building and is detained by Chinese security agents.
Feb. 8 Chongqing government says Wang is suffering from stress and undergoing ‘vacation-style treatment.’ U.S. State Department confirms he spent the night in consulate but says he left of his own accord.
March 2 Senior Chinese official says Wang is being investigated and progress is being made.
March 9 Bo Xilai, Chongqing Party chief, admits ‘negligent supervision’ but denies he offered to resign from the Politburo or is under investigation in relation to the scandal.
March 15 China announces dismissal of Bo as Chongqing party chief.
March 25 Britain says it has asked China to open investigation into Heywood’s death.
March 26 Hakluyt strategic-intelligence company says Heywood did periodic work for the firm.
Wang claimed to have fallen out with Bo after discussing with him his belief that Heywood was poisoned, according to people familiar with the matter. He also claimed that Heywood had been involved in a business dispute involving Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, according to one of those people.
The British government said Sunday it had asked China’s central government to investigate the case fully in the light of fresh suspicions about the case, and that Chinese officials had promised to “take it forward” without specifying what action they would take.
On Monday, Chinese officials said they had no knowledge of Heywood, suggesting the party leadership had once again been caught off balance by the rapidly unfolding and unusually media-driven political drama.
A spokesman for Hakluyt told The Wall Street Journal that Heywood had been providing the company with services on a case-by-case basis for some time, without specifying exactly how long.
“Neil had a long history of advising Western companies on China and we were among those who sought his advice,” the spokesman said. “We’re greatly saddened by his death.”
He declined to say precisely what services Heywood provided. The company offers clients strategic business intelligence and advice as well as credit checks and other due-diligence services.
Heywood’s work for Hakluyt was only part-time, and was apparently one of several jobs he had. The level of sensitivity of the projects he was involved in also wasn’t clear. However, his connection to the company suggests he may have been engaged in activities that are considered highly sensitive? and sometimes dangerous?in China.
Gathering business intelligence and investigating Chinese firms is a growing industry, and inevitably those engaged in it are often delving into issues of corruption, nepotism and vested bureaucratic interests.
A new twist emerges in the Bo Xilai drama as suspicions grow about the death last year of a British businessman in the city of Chongqing. The WSJ’s Deborah Kan speaks to Beijing Bureau Chief Andy Browne.
Several acquaintances and former colleagues of Heywood said they were not aware of what exactly he had been doing in Chongqing in November. But people familiar with the case said his Chinese wife was not in Chongqing at the time, according to people familiar with the case.
People who knew him described him as a well-spoken man in his late 40s or early 50s, often clad in a cream linen jacket and tie, who had lived in China for many years and was known in the business community as a part-time dealer of Aston Martin sports cars.
They say that Heywood, a Mandarin speaker, also had a reputation as a freelance consultant who could help to arrange meetings and solve business problems thanks in large part to a connection with the Bo family established through his wife, who was from the northeastern city of Dalian, where Bo was mayor from 1993 to 2001.
Two people who knew him said they thought he had played a role in helping to look after Bo’s son, Bo Guagua, when he was studying at two British private boarding schools?Papplewick and Harrow?and at Oxford University. Two others described him as a “low-level fixer” for the Bo family, suggesting he acted as a middleman for them, helping to arrange meetings with business figures, and advise them on dealing with foreigners.
But even as news of the British request for an investigation spread rapidly across China’s popular microblogging services, Hong Lei, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, told a regular news briefing he was unaware of the situation regarding Heywood.
Pu Jian, a spokesman for the Chongqing police, said he had contacted several police departments and they all had no knowledge of the case. Wang Ya, a director of Chongqing’s Foreign Affairs office, the local branch of the Foreign Ministry, also said he was unaware of the case.
The lack of a clear and consistent line from official media and spokespeople in China usually indicates that lower-level officials are still waiting for the party leadership to make a collective decision about how to handle a given situation, according to political analysts.
Many analysts and people close to the party elite believe there is a split in the top leadership between those who support Bo and want him to remain on the party’s Politburo?its top 25 leaders?and those who want him to be ejected and face official punishment.
According to diplomats and other people familiar with the matter, Wang, the former police chief, asked for political asylum in the U.S. consulate in Chengdu and presented what he said was documentary evidence involving Bo. He was rejected because U.S. officials feared accepting him would severely damage relations with China. He was persuaded to hand himself over to Chinese central-government officials who took him to Beijing.
It is impossible to substantiate Wang’s allegations or to ascertain the reasons he decided to come forward, and people familiar with the matter said he may be acting in self-interest. Nonetheless, his claims could now be used by Bo’s opponents against him and other leaders who support him.
Efforts to contact Bo, his wife, Wang and Heywood’s family were all unsuccessful. A spokesman for the British Embassy in Beijing said the embassy is in touch with Heywood’s relatives and they don’t wish to comment.
Wang’s case is raising interest in Congress, as leading lawmakers are seeking to find out if the Obama administration denied the vice mayor of Chongqing political asylum last month.
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.) is requesting access to the communications between the State Department an
