Police post video message from Bo Xilai accomplice

Friday, 20 July 2012
Kim Yuthana and Stuart White
The Phnom Penh Post

In a seeming effort to dispel any lingering doubt about Patrick Devillers‘s willingness to go to China, the General Commissariat National Police posted a YouTube video yesterday showing the freshly released Frenchman giving a brief interview about his detainment in Cambodia.

The video, taken on Tuesday, shows the former associate of deposed Chinese politician Bo Xilai and his wife, Gu Kailal, dressed in grey slacks and a white shirt seated at a table with a flower arrangement and French press-style coffee carafe, explaining the purpose of his trip and confirming reports that he was departing for China of his own free will.

“Now, I’m leaving for Shanghai tonight, and after a stop, probably on to Beijing in order to answer – one could say to cooperate in the case of the inquiry into Gu Kailai,” he said.

When asked if it was true that he was going willingly, Devillers replied: “Yes, it’s totally true. It is my decision that I should go to clarify this.”

Cambodian authorities arrested Devillers at a riverside restaurant on June 13, at the request of China, which wanted to question him regarding the scandal that swept up Bo and Gu.

Though the nature of his involvement is still hazy, Devillers was involved in multiple business ventures with Gu, now a suspect in the killing of British businessman Neil Heywood.

Devillers was asked to offer his “final word to the Cambodian government”.

“As for the Cambodian government, I would like to thank them for my release, and particularly to thank the immigration police, happily, for receiving me so well these past weeks,” he said.

The video then shows Devillers having his passport scanned at customs before returning to the lounge area to presumably await his flight.