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Li Zhao, the West Vancouver man charged in the horrific butchering of a Chinese mining tycoon, may have registered a $14,000 donation to the B.C. Liberals just days after the crime.

The victim, Gang Yuan — a multimillionaire who has been linked to a bribery and corruption scandal in China’s Yunnan province — was found allegedly chopped into 100 pieces at his British Properties mansion on May 2, 2015.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Suspect in murder of West Vancouver tycoon gave $14K to B.C. Liberals, donations records suggest Back to video

Yuan lived at the mansion with his cousin Xiao Mei Li and her husband, 55-year-old Li Zhao. Legal filings say that on May 8, 2015, Li Zhao was charged with murdering Yuan and “interfering” with his corpse.

B.C. Elections donation records show that on May 12, 2015, 10 days after Yuan’s remains were found, a man named Li Zhao paid $14,000 to the B.C. Liberal Party. The donor Li Zhao also paid $1,000 to the B.C. Liberal Party in a Vancouver riding in May 2005, election records show.

As election records only show the English language spelling of Li Zhao — rather than the Chinese characters — public documentation can’t confirm that it is the same man charged in Gang Yuan’s murder.