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??Briton in China Scandal Advised Intelligence Firm

??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 said.

??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 Mr. 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 Mr. Bo in the U.S. Consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu on Feb. 6.

??Mr. Wang claimed to have fallen out with Mr. Bo after discussing with him his belief that Mr. Heywood was poisoned, according to people familiar with the matter. He also claimed that Mr. Heywood had been involved in a business dispute involving Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. Heywood provided. The company offers clients strategic business intelligence and advice as well as credit checks and other due-diligence services.

??Mr. 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.

??Several acquaintances and former colleagues of Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. 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, Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. Bo's opponents against him and other leaders who support him.

??Efforts to contact Mr. Bo, his wife, Mr. Wang and Mr. Heywood's family were all unsuccessful. A spokesman for the British Embassy in Beijing said the embassy is in touch with Mr. Heywood's relatives and they don't wish to comment.

??Mr. 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 and its Chengdu consulate concerning Mr. Wang's case. The State Department has yet to respond to the congresswoman's request, according to a spokesman for Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen.

??The State Department said last month Mr. Wang left the Chengdu consulate under his "own volition." Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland Monday declined to comment on whether Mr. Wang formally requested asylum while at the U.S. consulate last month or if the State Department rejected his request.

??After Mr. Heywood was found dead in his Chongqing hotel room in November, local authorities swiftly declared that he died of "excessive alcohol consumption," and cremated the body without an autopsy, according to people familiar with the matter. Friends have since raised suspicions with the British Embassy, pointing out that he was a teetotaler.

??One key question in the case is what exactly Mr. Heywood was doing in Chongqing when he died, and what, if any, projects he had been working on there in the recent past. But several friends, acquaintances and former colleagues said they didn't know.

??The website for HL Consulting, a Chinese consultancy that also specializes in credit and other due-diligence checks on Chinese companies, said Mr. Heywood had worked as a nonexecutive director for the firm's IPO advisory team.

??But Shen Wei, president of HL Consulting, said in an interview that Mr. Heywood had not formally worked for the company, but had proposed adding his name to the website to pursue possible future cooperation. "You know, just to make it look and sound better. So we packaged it as how he asked," Mr. Shen said. He said he gave Mr. Heywood the title of managing director but that he never worked on a single case for the company.

??He said he had not seen him for two or three years and had been unaware of his death.

??The website described Mr. Heywood as a graduate of Beijing Language and Culture University, a "famous expert" on China's economy, a long-term specialist on large Western pension funds, who had played a role in several business ventures with foreign companies, including Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.'s takeover of Volvo. Volvo didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

??One person recalled Mr. Heywood introducing himself at a social event at the British Embassy in Beijing two years ago as an adviser to the city's Aston Martin dealership.

??"He was clearly from a good family, in his late 40s or 50s, and was typical British, yet quite old school," the person said.  


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