London: Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague says a UK businessman who died in suspicious circumstances in China was not working as a British spy.
Hague said today in a letter to Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee that he was taking the rare step of commenting on intelligence work to confirm that Neil Heywood "was not an employee of the British government in any capacity."
Lawmakers had asked Hague to clarify whether Heywood had worked with British intelligence "either on a formal or informal basis."
Heywood's body was found on November 15 at a mountaintop hotel in the southwestern city of Chongqing.
Chinese authorities have named Heywood's contact Gu Kailai, the wife of Bo Xilai who was removed as Chongqing's Party Secretary, as a suspect in his murder.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, April 27, 2012, 00:23