PHNOM PENH | 
 
 PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The French architect linked to China's biggest political scandal in two decades and detained in Cambodia will not be extradited to any country, a minister said, adding another twist to a high-profile case already shrouded in mystery. 
 
 Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong gave no details on what grounds China had requested the arrest of Patrick Henri Devillers, whose whereabouts is unknown, but said he would remain in custody pending further investigation. 
 
 Devillers, 52, has lived in Cambodia for at least five years, according to friends. He had close business ties with the family of deposed Chinese politician Bo Xilai, but China's reason for seeking his arrest has not been made public. 
 
 "The Royal Government of Cambodia has already made decision to keep this French national in Cambodia, the decision was already made. Neither sending to France or China," Hor Namhong told reporters. 
 
 Asked why Devillers was detained, he said: "We don't know the reason, we are waiting for further investigation." 
 
 A spokeswoman for the French embassy in Phnom Penh declined to say whether France was seeking his extradition, or give any details on the status of Devillers. 
 
 Cambodia has kept an unusually tight lid on all information about his detention in a case that has highlighted the tight diplomatic relationship with China. 
 
 China is Cambodia's biggest political and economic ally and Beijing has boosted its influence in the impoverished country in recent years, pumping in hundreds of millions of dollars of aid, loans and investment. 
 
 Devillers is known to have been close to Bo's glamorous wife, Gu Kailai, who has been named as a suspect in last November's murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. The police case against Gu has not been made public. 
 
 Last week, the head of the discipline apparatus of China's Communist Party, He Guoqiang, visited Cambodia for three days. His position makes him one of the senior officials overseeing Bo's case. 
 
 Apart from the foreign minister, Cambodian officials, police and a government spokesman have refused comment or provided no details on Devillers since his arrest was confirmed on Tuesday. Several have referred journalists to other ministries and agencies, which have each denied responsibility for the case. 
 
 "HE LOOKED VERY SAD" 
 
 Cambodia has an extradition treaty with China and police said on Wednesday that arrangement permitted the authorities to detain the Frenchman for up to 60 days while China gathered evidence to support its request for him to be handed over. 
 
 The status of the Frenchman is shrouded in mystery. The French embassy and several friends of Devillers have given no comment in the past two days and Cambodian authorities have not said where Devillers was being held. 
 
 Police had initially said he was being kept at an immigration detention facility, but officials there told Reuters no foreigners were being held. Reuters reporters also visited an Interior Ministry detention facility, where officials also denied holding him. 
 
 The events leading up to his arrest are also unclear. A friend of Devillers, Pierre Yves Clais, told Reuters on Wednesday that he was told by a friend that the Frenchman had gone for lunch on June 13 with two Chinese-speaking Cambodians, which he described as a "set-up". 
 
 However, Clais on Friday denied making the comment and said it was a misunderstanding. 
 
 Two security guards working close to Devillers in Phnom Penh witnessed his arrest, which they said took place about two weeks ago. A police van and a private car carrying two European men pulled up outside his house before taking him away. 
 
 "I saw five policemen arrest him. He was cooperative, but he looked very sad," Rith Makara, a security guard at the furniture store opposite the Frenchman's home, said on Thursday. 
 
 He and a next-door neighbor said Devillers lived alone and had not been seen since. 
 
 Sources familiar with Devillers when he lived in China last month said he entered Bo's inner circle while living in Dalian in the 1990s and the Frenchman received help from then-mayor Bo in chasing up an unpaid debt for architectural work. 
 
 Devillers and Gu gave the same residential address when they set up a British company in 2000 in the resort town of Bournemouth and an investment firm registered by Devillers in 2006 in Luxembourg listed the Beijing address of the Ang Dao Law Firm - a firm affiliated with Gu. 
 
 (Editing by Nick Macfie) ||||| Gu Kailai, who has not been seen in public since March, is “highly suspected” of the 41-year-old Mr Heywood’s murder, according to the Chinese state media. 
 
 But according to the Asahi Shimbun, she has now admitted her guilt, telling investigators that Mr Heywood was poised to reveal that she was funnelling “billions of dollars” overseas. 
 
 The newspaper suggested that Mrs Gu’s financial affairs were already under the subject of an investigation by last November, when Mr Heywood travelled to Chongqing, the central Chinese city she ruled over with her husband. 
 
 The report allegedly states that Mrs Gu had killed Mr Heywood after feeling “driven into a corner” by the investigation. It also said that Mrs Gu had provided a precise confession as to how she had killed the British businessman, who had been a close friend of her family for several years. 
 
 According to the Asahi, Communist party officials have now “decided to indict Gu following her confession”. They are also allegedly investigating whether Mr Bo, 62, was aware of his wife’s actions, have interviewed hundreds and detained “dozens of people” associated with him “including his chauffeurs, close aides and secretaries”. 
 
 The investigators believe that Mrs Gu was receiving undeclared income from the early 1990s and may have transferred as much as $6 billion (£3.84 billion) overseas. Mr Heywood has been accused of helping her to move some of that money. 
 
 “Gu has also begun admitting to allegations of bribe-taking and the cross-border remittances, according to the sources. They said she has told investigators she received cash from a number of companies on the back of her husband’s power,” reported the Asahi. 
 
 Meanwhile, Cambodia said yesterday (FRI) it would not extradite Patrick Devillers, a French architect who had also been one of Mrs Gu’s inner circle. Mr Devillers is also suspected by the Chinese of involvement in moving Mrs Gu’s money overseas but the Cambodian government said it would investigate him in Phnom Penh. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The moment Gu Kailai and her aide, Zhang Xiaojun, were sentenced 
 
 The wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai has been given a suspended death sentence for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. 
 
 Gu Kailai did not contest charges at her one-day trial that she poisoned Mr Heywood in November 2011. 
 
 Suspended death sentences are usually commuted to life imprisonment in China. 
 
 Mr Bo, the former party chief in Chongqing, was once seen as a contender for a national leadership position in a top-level reshuffle later this year. 
 
 But he has not been seen in public since the investigation into Gu was announced. 
 
 Gu's aide, Zhang Xiaojun, was jailed for nine years for his part in the murder. 
 
 'Special respect' 
 
 The verdict in China's most high-profile trial for years came early on Monday, inside a court ringed by security personnel. 
 
 Analysis The outcome of the case is a neat one for the Communist Party. It pins the blame for Neil Heywood's death on Gu Kailai, but she escapes the full death penalty. Her suspended sentence is sign of leniency. Murderers in China often face the firing squad. Gu Kailai admitted premeditated murder. She confessed she lured Neil Heywood to Chongqing, procured cyanide, got him drunk, then poured the poison into his mouth. But she claimed she'd had a mental breakdown. The court said it accepted she was not in full control of her actions. Many will believe it is her political connections that have won her this reprieve. And the trial has conveniently avoided the most sensitive questions. Did her husband, the once powerful Bo Xilai, have any link to the crime or the cover-up by police under his control in Chongqing? How did the family become so rich? Were the business deals that led to Neil Heywood's murder corrupt? They're uncomfortable questions for the Communist Party to face. 
 
 Chinese state media reported that during the 9 August trial - which was not open to all - Gu admitted she poisoned Neil Heywood in a hotel room in Chongqing, helped by her aide. 
 
 She said she had suffered a mental breakdown and that Mr Heywood had threatened her son amid a row over a property deal, state media said. 
 
 Images shown on Chinese state television showed Gu responding to the verdict. "This verdict is just. It shows special respect for the law, reality and life," she said. 
 
 Speaking after the sentence was announced, court spokesman Tang Yigan said the court believed Mr Heywood had threatened Gu's son but not acted on the threats. It also found Gu had been suffering from "psychological impairment", he said. 
 
 A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK had made it clear to Beijing that the case must be properly investigated, but that the outcome was "a matter for the Chinese authorities". 
 
 A lawyer for the Heywood family said they respected the court's decision. 
 
 Image caption Mr Heywood was found dead in a hotel room in November 2011 
 
 The sentence of death with a two-year suspension means that if Gu commits no crimes while in prison, her sentence will be commuted after two years to life imprisonment and could be further reduced for good behaviour, Chinese legal expert Professor Donald Clarke writes in his blog. 
 
 Chinese internet users reacted immediately to the verdict on Twitter-like microblogging platforms. 
 
 With key names connected to the case still apparently censored, most used the phrase "suspended death sentence". Within two hours, there were at least two million posts. 
 
 Many users expressed dissatisfaction, saying most murderers in China would be executed. Some attributed it to Gu's background, others suggested she could eventually be freed under medical parole. 
 
 Leadership change 
 
 At a separate trial on 10 August, four senior police officers from Chongqing admitted charges of covering up evidence linking Gu to the murder. A court official said they had been given terms of between five and 11 years in prison, AFP reported. 
 
 TIMELINE: BO XILAI SCANDAL 6 Feb: Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun flees to the US consulate in Chengdu 
 
 Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun flees to the US consulate in Chengdu 15 Mar: Bo Xilai is removed from his post in Chongqing 
 
 Bo Xilai is removed from his post in Chongqing 20 Mar: Rumours suggest Mr Bo could be linked to the death of British businessman Neil Heywood 
 
 Rumours suggest Mr Bo could be linked to the death of British businessman Neil Heywood 10 Apr: Bo Xilai is suspended from party posts and his wife, Gu Kailai, is investigated over Mr Heywood's death 
 
 Bo Xilai is suspended from party posts and his wife, Gu Kailai, is investigated over Mr Heywood's death 26 July: Gu Kailai and Bo family employee Zhang Xiaojun are charged with killing Mr Heywood 
 
 Gu Kailai and Bo family employee Zhang Xiaojun are charged with killing Mr Heywood 9 Aug: Gu Kailai goes on trial for murder 
 
 Gu Kailai goes on trial for murder 20 Aug: Gu Kailai given suspended death sentence Netizens criticise Gu's sentence Bo Xilai scandal: Timeline 
 
 Mr Heywood's death was initially recorded as a heart attack. 
 
 The case came to light when Bo Xilai's deputy, police chief Wang Lijun, fled to the US consulate in February, reportedly with information connected to the case. 
 
 He has not been seen in public since then and state media say he is being investigated. 
 
 It is not yet known how the Communist Party plans to deal with Mr Bo, once seen as a powerful and ambitious high-flier. 
 
 Many analysts expected him to be promoted to the nine-strong politburo Standing Committee later in the year. 
 
 Seven committee members are due to retire, with a new generation of leaders to take their place at a party congress expected later this year. 
 
 But Mr Bo has been stripped of his official posts and is being investigated for "discipline violations", state media reports say. 
 
 A lengthy Xinhua news agency write-up of Gu's trial, however, made no mention of Mr Bo.
– Two twists in the China scandal involving ousted political leader Bo Xilai and wife Gu Kailai: Confession? A Japanese newspaper reports that Gu has confessed to killing British businessman Neil Heywood, apparently because she was worried he knew too much about her illegal financial dealings. The report quotes anonymous Chinese sources as saying an indictment is near, notes the Telegraph. The sources also say that Gu smuggled somewhere around $6 billion overseas. Cambodia arrest: A Cambodian official says a French architect with strong business ties to Bo and Gu will not be extradited to China or anywhere else, at least for now, reports Reuters. Police in Phnom Penh arrested Patrick Devillers earlier this month at Beijing's request but haven't disclosed much else, including why he got detained in the first place. "We don't know the reason," said the minister. "We are waiting for further investigation."