Jailed former Chinese Politburo member Bo Xilai’s luxurious villa in the south of France – which a mainland court has promised to confiscate – has been put up for sale for 6.95 million euros (about HK$66 million), according to The Global Times, reports The South China Morning Post.
Built on a hillside in one of Cannes’ most exclusive resort areas, overlooking the Mediterranean, the 400-square-metre mansion has five bedrooms, a separate suite of rooms, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, and two garages and a 4,000-sq-metre garden, according to the sales document provided by Fine & Country, the real estate company in charge of the sale.
The location of Bo’s villa is the best in Cannes, with the average price of land close to 6,000 euros per square metre, the newspaper reported, quoting a local real estate agent.
The villa is managed by a French-registered company, Résidences Fontaine Saint Georges, according to a registration book at the Cannes commerical court.
The company’s legal representative is Jiang Feng Dolby, a former Chinese state television anchorwoman, the report said.
The Chinese court ruled during Bo’s corruption trial last year that Jiang was the nominal owner of the villa bought by Xu Ming, a businessman with close ties to Bo, on behalf of Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, in 2001.
The villa returned to Xu’s ownership in 2011 and was later passed to Jiang. Bo denied knowledge of the villa.
The mansion was once managed by British businessman Neil Heywood – once Bo’s close business associate – who was murdered by Gu in 2011.
An official at the French Ministry of Justice told the Global Times that for China to successfully confiscate the villa, the evidence of its ownership must be clear. This would require time for an investigation and close cooperation between the two countries.
The Global Times report did not state who had put the villa up for sale.