France declines to comment on Bo villa

The French government refused to comment on a villa in France connected with former senior Chinese official Bo Xilai, after being questioned about France's cooperation with China's international anti-corruption efforts, the Beijing Youth Daily reported on Wednesday.

Olivier Pedro-Jose, deputy spokesman for the French justice ministry, said the ministry would not comment on any particular criminal case and would neither confirm nor deny any related information.

Pedro-Jose emphasized the importance of the Agreement between China and France on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, adding that any return of assets should not jeopardize the interests of a bona fide third party.

Bo Xilai, former secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a former member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2013 for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

A previous investigation into his activities revealed that in July 2001, Bogu Kailai, Bo's wife, bought a villa in the city of Nice worth over 2.3 million euros ($2.8 million) at the time with funds provided by a businessman who wished to curry favor with Bo.

Evidence presented by prosecutors at Bo Xilai's trial showed that the three-story villa has a garden, a swimming pool and a garage, and that the property covers a total of 3,950 square meters, half the size of a football field.

Bogu Kailai received a death sentence with a two-year reprieve in 2012 for the killing of a British businessman.

Pedro-Jose also confirmed that judicial cooperation between China and France, which aims to track down around 10 fugitives suspected of corruption that may be hiding in France, has begun, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.