Police officers stand guard at the Hefei City Intermediate People's Court where the murder trial of Gu Kailai, wife of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai, takes place Thursday Aug. 9, 2012 in Hefei, Anhui Province, China. (Gu stood trial Thursday for the murder of a British former associate in a tightly orchestrated proceeding that marks a key step to resolving the messiest scandal the leadership has faced in two decades. AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say the wife of the disgraced former Communist Party boss of Chongqing has confessed to murdering a British businessman and apologized for the “tragedy” she caused.

The official Xinhua News Agency in its most detailed report on the case said Friday that Gu Kailai and her co-defendant “confessed to intentional murder” at their trial the previous day. They were accused of poisoning her business associate Neil Heywood last November after having a dispute over economic interests.

Gu’s arrest and the ouster of her husband Bo Xilai as Chongqing party chief in March sparked the biggest political turbulence in China since the putdown of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Her tightly orchestrated trial was a step toward resolving the scandal before the party’s leadership transition this fall.