UPDATE 3-China starts formal criminal probe into politician Bo Xilai

* State prosecutors open criminal investigation

* Expulsion from parliament removes Bo's immunity from prosecution

* Announcements made two weeks before Communist Party congress

* Bo's wife, police chief, jailed over businessman's murder

BEIJING, Oct 26 (Reuters) - China moved quickly on Friday to announce it had formally begun a criminal probe into disgraced former senior politician Bo Xilai, hours after expelling him from the largely rubber stamp parliament and so removing his immunity from prosecution.


A brief report by the state-run Xinhua news agency said state prosecutors had ``decided to put Bo Xilai under investigation for alleged criminal offences''.

It added that they had ``imposed coercive measures on him in accordance with the law'', likely a reference that he was now officially in detention.



The latest move comes a fortnight before the Communist Party holds a congress, which opens on Nov. 8, that will unveil the country's new central leadership.

Bo, 63, was widely seen as pursuing a powerful spot in the new leadership before his career unravelled after Wang fled to a U.S. consulate for more than 24 hours in February and alleged that Bo's wife had poisoned Heywood.



Earlier in the day, Xinhua said the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's parliament, ``announced the termination of Bo Xilai's post'' as the deputy to the parliament.





``It's theatre,'' said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, who spoke before Bo's expulsion and criminal probe were announced.



Wang had spearheaded Bo's controversial campaign against organised crime, a prominent plank in Bo's barely concealed campaign to join the topmost ranks of the Communist Party.




