【英语生活】薄案审理透露中国高官私生活细节

As prosecutors tried to heap damning evidence on former high-profile leader Bo Xilai, his trial on Thursday also offered a rare peek into a sensitive part of Chinese life: the wealth and lifestyle of senior party leaders and their families.

Prosecutors trying Mr. Bo in the eastern city of Jinan on charges of bribery, corruption and abuse of power painted a picture of exotic properties and ready access to cash. A Chinese businessman testified that he paid $3.2 million for a French villa for the family's use and covered expenses for Mr. Bo's foreign-educated son, Bo Guagua-including a trip to Africa for Guagua and friends.

In written testimony, Mr. Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, testified that she helped herself to tens of thousands of dollars in cash in U.S. and Chinese currency the family kept socked away in a safe.

Mr. Bo denied taking bribes and said he had no knowledge of the French villa. He also suggested that he and Ms. Gu led such busy lives that they didn't have time to talk about money and personal spending-an attitude that many families in China might find it hard to identify with.

The picture of Bo family wealth comes amid a crackdown on corruption by China's new government, which top party leaders have publicly acknowledged threatens their grip on power. President Xi Jinping has tried to set an example of austerity by eating simple meals, and the government has cracked down on lavish banquets and chided officials at the country's massive state-owned enterprises to manage their avaricious relatives.

Mr. Bo's trial gives officials a chance to make an example of a once-senior leader, yet they run the risks of painting a too-broad picture of corruption within the families of senior leaders. 'The mechanisms put in place to attack corruption have to be limited,' said Lester Ross, a Beijing-based attorney with U.S. law firm WilmerHale. 'Otherwise there will be the possibility of exposing problems and putting the party at risk.'

While the scope of official corruption in China isn't clear, some studies suggest it is considerable. Two years ago, China's central bank published online, then quickly pulled a study that estimated corrupt officials had fled abroad or gone into hiding with roughly 800 billion yuan, or about $131 billion at today's exchange rates, since the mid-1990s.

Xu Ming, a businessman from the city of Dalian, where Mr. Bo was mayor in the 1990s, testified on Thursday that he picked up many of Bo Guagua's expenses. In addition to travel and other expenses, they included a credit-card bill totaling about 300,000 yuan. They also included 80,000 yuan for a two-wheeled Segway-like electric vehicle.

Ms. Gu said in her written testimony that she tapped $130,000 in U.S. currency and tens of thousands of yuan from the stash in the couple's safe for herself and for their son. Ms. Gu said she withdrew $50,000 in 2002 and 2003 while the couple was living in Shenyang, the capital of China's Liaoning province, where Mr. Bo was governor from 2000 to 2004.

Ms. Gu also said she withdrew $80,000 in 2005 while Mr. Bo was China's commerce minister and the couple was living in Beijing, and that she took 'tens of thousands' of yuan from the safe in the Beijing home in the second half of 2004, though she couldn't remember exactly how much.

Ms. Gu's testimony as provided by the court include other trappings of personal wealth, including a two-story mansion in Beijing that sits behind an eight-foot-tall gray brick wall. Neighbors said Thursday that the house had appeared unused for a long time.

Mr. Bo and his attorneys disputed Ms. Gu's testimony. 'I feel that Gu Kailai's testimony is ridiculous and laughable,' he said, according to the court. Mr. Bo argued that Ms. Gu's testimony didn't prove that he was the person who put money in the safe.

Mr. Bo testified that he and Ms. Gu rarely saw each other, as he climbed up the party ranks and she lived in U.K. to be near their son. When they did see each other, he testified, she made sure to talk about things of interest to him, not about matters of money.

'From start to finish, I believe Bo Gu Kailai is a person of culture, a female of contemporary sensibilities,' he said, referring to his wife with the same version of her name used by Chinese officials. 'Every time she saw me, she always talked about things that we shared a common language in.'

Once he took the top party position in Chongqing in 2007, his time with her 'was extremely limited,' he said. 'It was impossible that when together she would talk about plane tickets and living expenses. It is even more impossible she would talk about how much money Guagua spends.'

周四庭审薄熙来期间，检方拿出了大量证据来证明这位前中共高官有罪，同时也为外界提供了一个罕见的机会，得以一窥中共高层领导及其家人的财富和生活方式，而这是中国社会中很敏感的一面。

薄熙来在中国东部城市济南因贪污、腐败和滥用职权等指控受审。检方在审理过程中曝光了薄熙来的海外房产以及可随时取用的大量现金。一名中国商人作证称，他花320万美元在法国买了一幢别墅供薄家使用，并且为薄熙来在海外留学的儿子薄瓜瓜支付了很多费用，包括薄瓜瓜和朋友赴非洲旅行。

薄熙来的妻子谷开来在书面证词中说，她从家中保险柜里取过数万美元和人民币。

薄熙来否认受贿指控，说自己对那幢法国别墅并不知情。他表示，自己和谷开来都很忙，没有时间谈钱和个人花销的问题。在这一点上，或许很多中国家庭很难与薄熙来产生共鸣。

Chuin-Wei Yap/The Wall Street Journal图片：薄熙来的北京住宅庭审曝光薄家财富正逢中国新一届政府严打腐败之际。中共高层领导人公开承认，腐败威胁其执政。中国国家主席习近平试图通过吃便餐来体现对节俭的以身作则，中国政府也在遏制豪华宴请，批评国企高管，要求他们管好贪婪的家人。

审理薄案是拿一个曾经位高权重的高层领导人来警戒中国官员，但此举也会带来这样一个风险，即展现出中共高层领导人的家庭存在极为普遍的腐败之风。美国威凯平和而德律师事务所(WilmerHale)驻北京律师罗斯(Lester Ross)说，现有的反腐机制须有限度，否则有可能暴露出很多问题，置中共于危险境地。

虽然中国官员的贪腐范围有多广现在不得而知，但一些研究显示规模可能相当广。两年前中国央行在网上发布了一份研究报告，随后很快被删除。据这份报告估计，自上世纪90年代中期以来，逃亡海外或藏匿起来的贪官携款约人民币8,000亿元（按当今汇率折算约合1,310亿美元）。

大连商人徐明周四作证说，他为薄瓜瓜支付了许多费用。除了旅行和其他开支，还包括总额约人民币30万元的信用卡账单，以及价值人民币8万元、类似“赛格威”(Segway)的两轮电动车。薄熙来上世纪90年代曾任大连市长。

谷开来在书面证词中说，她在两人共用的保险柜中取走了13万美元现金以及数万元人民币用于自己和儿子的花销。谷开来说，她在2002年和2003年两人居住在沈阳时拿了5万美元。沈阳是中国辽宁省省会，薄熙来于2000至2004年任辽宁省长。

谷开来还说，2005年她拿走了8万美元，当时薄熙来任中国商务部长，两人住在北京。2004年下半年她还在北京家中从保险柜里拿走了几万元人民币，但她记不清楚具体金额。

Mark Ralston/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images图片：薄熙来案庭审日法庭出具的谷开来证词还包括其他个人财产，包括北京一幢两层楼的房子，该房产位于一堵高约2.4米的灰色砖 后面。邻居周四说，这所房子似乎很久没人住了。

薄熙来及其律师反驳了谷开来的证词。庭审记录显示，薄熙来说，我觉得谷开来的证言非常滑稽、非常可笑。薄熙来申辩说，谷开来的证词并不能说明保险柜里的钱是他放进去的。

薄熙来作证说，由于他在党内逐步晋升，而谷开来在英国照顾儿子，因此他和谷开来的接触很有限。他说，他们每次见面时，谷开来总要谈一些跟他有共同语言的事情，而不会讨论钱的问题。

薄熙来说，我始终认为薄谷开来还是一个有文化品位的人，是一个现代知识女性。她每次见到我总要谈一些和我有共同语言的事情。他提到谷开来时采用了中国官员称呼她的姓名版本。

他说，2007年他任重庆市委书记之后，和谷开来见面的时间也“极其有限”，“不可能在一起她就跟我谈机票住宿报销的事，更不可能谈瓜瓜花了多少钱”。