Chinese prosecutors have charged the wife of disgraced senior Communist Party official Bo Xilai and a family employee with the murder of a British businessman.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday that authorities say Bo's wife Gu Kailai murdered Neil Heywood, who had business dealings with the couple. Gu and family aid Zhang Xiaojun allegedly poisoned Heywood. He died last November.

The scandal erupted in February when a longtime family aide fled to a U.S. consulate and made accusations of Gu's involvement in the Heywood murder.

Bo was a rising star in the Chinese Communist Party, serving as party chief of the city of Chongqing until authorities removed him from the post in March as part of a massive corruption probe.

Bo remains under house arrest.