Former Chinese official pays murderer to kill successor

HEGANG, Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 30 -- A former transport chief

in Hegang City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has confessed to police

that he paid a murderer to kill his successor over conflicts, police said

Sunday.

The former official Bai Yuku paid 300,000 yuan (43,923 U.S. dollars) for

the killing of the director of the city's transport bureau Li Xingguang, said

Shi Yanfang, criminal police chief in the city.

Bai confessed he had many complaints against Li who had opposed him many

times in the appointment of officials, bidding for projects and other issues

within the bureau. Bai believed his interests were infringed by Li and made up

his mind to get rid of Li, said Shi.

Bai is the general manager of the Huanyu Group, a company under the

transport bureau. He had served as the bureau's director and vice chairman of

the city's political advisory body.

Li Xingguang, 47, was stabbed to death at around 6 p.m. on Aug.17 in from

of his residence in Hegang. The killer Xu Guangdong escaped after the murder of

the government official, an unusual thing in China.

Police had arrested four suspects before Bai was seized by police Friday

morning.

The four suspects are Wang Jianbo, 50, an executive in a company under the

transport bureau and a cousin of Bai who planned the murder as told by Bai; Yang

Jingwu, 42; Xu Guangdong, 41; and Xu Guangbei, 39.

Wang went to his friend Yang to hire a killer, and was introduced to Xu

Guangbei. Xu Guangdong, the elder brother of Xu Guangbei, accepted the killing

mission, according to the police.