Chinese police chief charged

• Tweet

CHENGDU, China, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The former police chief in Chongqing, China, who set off a scandal when he sought asylum in a U.S. consulate, now faces criminal charges.

Xinhua, the official government news agency, said it learned Wednesday Wang Lijun, who was also Chongqing's vice mayor, has been charged with bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and bribery.

In February, Wang told officials at the U.S. consulate in Chengdu he knew that the wife of Bo Xilai, at the time a member of the Central Politburo and secretary of the Communist Party in Chongqing, was behind the killing of British businessman Neil Heywood. Bo's wife, Gu Kaili, has since been convicted and sentenced to death, although the sentence is likely to be commuted to life in prison.

The charges against Wang involve his attempted defection as well as his alleged actions as Bo's second-in-command.