The wife of Chinese dissident Bo Xilai has been charged with the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, according to state media.
Reports on Thursday said Gu Kailai had recently been prosecuted but did not give further details.
Gu Kailai (left) next to her husband, who was a rising star in the Communist Party until scandal engulfed the couple
Disgraced Chinese politician Bo was dismissed from his senior Communist Party role in April after Bo's "right hand man" Wang Liju fled to the US consulate in Chengdu, claiming that Gu was involved in Heywood's death.
Neil Heywood was found in a hotel in the south western Chinese city of Chongqing last November, with reports suggesting the 41-year-old old Harrovian may have been poisoned.
Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai, who has been charged Neil Heywood's murder
Reports from China have claimed Heywood was a friend of the family and that the two fell out after he demanded a higher fee for helping her to move money out of the country.
Neil Heywood, 41, was found dead in a secluded hotel near Congqing in November.
At the time of Heywood's death, Chinese officials said the British expat died of "excessive alcohol consumption". However his friends questioned this, saying the businessman was not a heavy drinker.
Sensational accounts of the crime have emerged. Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri Online quoted an unnamed state official who said Neil Heywood was pinned to the ground by force as he was murdered.
In April China vowed to "thoroughly investigate" events surrounding the murder or Mr Heywood.