Bo blasts wife Gu's testimony against him as 'comical and ridiculous'

Personal differences between Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai spilled over into the People's Intermediate Court in Jinan as the disgraced former Chongqing party boss dismissed his wife's written testimony against him as "very comical and ridiculous".

Bo's public criticism of Gu was easily one of the most extraordinary moments on the first day of his trial on corruption and abuse of power charges. The pair had once been one of China's most prominent power couples; he the leader of the country's largest municipality and she a former lawyer.

Now, Gu is serving a suspended death sentence for the 2011 poisoning death of British businessman Neil Heywood in a Chongqing hotel. Prosecutors presented her testimony to help convict Bo of bribery charges that could result in a lengthy jail term or even execution.

In her statement, Gu said that she took US$130,000 and tens of thousands of yuan from safes in the couple's homes in Shenyang and Beijing between 2002 and 2005. Gu said the money must have been Bo's because it was not hers and only they had access to it.

"At the homes in Shenyang, Dalian, Beijing and Chongqing we shared one safe and it was the only one we shared," Gu said. "It could be opened only by the two of us. The money was put in by Bo Xilai because only we could open it."

Gu said the money was taken to Britain and spent by her and their son, Bo Guagua , who studied at Harrow School and later Oxford.