The British businessman whose murder has sparked political upheaval in China was poisoned after he threatened to expose a plan by a Chinese leader's wife to move money abroad, two sources with knowledge of the police investigation said.
It was the first time a specific motive has been revealed for Neil Heywood's murder last November, a death which ended Chinese leader Bo Xilai's hopes of emerging as a top central leader and threw off balance the Communist Party's looming leadership succession.
Mr Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, asked Mr Heywood late last year to move a large sum of money abroad, and she became outraged when he demanded a larger cut of the money than she had expected due to the size of the transaction, the sources said.
She accused him of being greedy and hatched a plan to kill him after he said he could expose her dealings, one of the sources said, summarising the police case. Both sources have spoken to investigators in Chongqing, the southwestern Chinese city where Mr Heywood was killed and where Mr Bo had cast himself as a crime-fighting Communist Party leader.
Ms Gu is in police custody on suspicion of committing or arranging Mr Heywood's murder, though no details of the motive or the crime itself have been publicly released, other than a general comment from Chinese state media that he was killed after a financial dispute.
The sources have close ties to Chinese police and said they were given details of the investigation. They said Mr Heywood - formerly a close friend of Ms Gu and who had been helping her with her overseas financial dealings - was killed after he threatened to expose what she was doing.
"Heywood told her that if she thought he was being too greedy, then he didn't need to become involved and wouldn't take a penny of the money, but he also said he could also expose it," the first source said.
The sources said police suspect the 41-year-old was poisoned by a drink. They did not know precisely where he died in Chongqing but believe Mr Heywood was killed at a secluded hilltop retreat, the Nanshan Lijing Holiday Hotel, which is also marketed as the Lucky Holiday Hotel.
The sources said Ms Gu and Mr Heywood, who had lived in China since the early 1990s, shared a long and close personal relationship but were not romantically involved.
The sources did not know details of the offshore transactions that Mr Heywood facilitated for Ms Gu but said exposure of the deals would have imperilled her and her ambitious husband, who was campaigning for promotion to the top ranks of China's leadership. Mr Bo has since been ousted over the scandal.
Ms Gu, who is in custody and facing a possible death sentence for murder, and Mr Bo could not be reached for comment. Mr Bo has not been seen since appearing at parliament in March, when he held a news conference decrying the "filth" being poured on his family.
Reuters