For a Communist Party official who is supposed to earn a modest salary

Media attention has spiraled from Bo Xilai -- the former party chief of Chongqing widely believed in line for a national party leadership role before his March dismissal -- to his family members after his wife, Gu Kailai, was detained on suspicion of having murdered British businessman Neil Heywood in November. For a Communist Party official who is supposed to earn a modest salary, there are reports he and immediate relatives are worth tens of millions of dollars through business dealings and powerful political connections. Professor Ding Xueliang of Hong Kong's University of Science and Technology, who knows some of Bo Xilai's family members, said Bo's former position could have given him unique flexibility to skirt China's tight capital control rules. "He was not an ordinary member of the Politburo. He was one of the earliest PRC officials who had established wide overseas protection," Ding said. "That gave him enormous advantage to accumulate wealth. Once you've established overseas companies outside of China, it's very easy to shift money around." Bo gained national prominence when he moved in to Chongqing in 2007 and began his "strike black" crackdown on corruption and gangster activities. The campaign implicated millionaires, local officials, police officers and gangsters involved in bribery, prostitution, gambling, drugs and guns. Since his dismissal, allegations have come to light that suggest the crackdown was as ruthless as the criminals targeted. "A Chongqing business man told me once 'This is not a legitimate government that hates the mafia. This local government acts like a big mafia boss that hates the small mafia'," Ding said.