A former transport chief in Hegang City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has confessed to police that he paid a murderer to kill his successor over conflicts, police said Sunday.

The former official Bai Yuku paid 300,000 yuan (43,923 US dollars) for the killing of the director of the city's transport bureau Li Xingguang, said Shi Yanfang, criminal police chief in the city.

Bai confessed he had many complaints against Li who had opposed him many times in the appointment of officials, bidding for projects and other issues within the bureau. Bai believed his interests were infringed by Li and made up his mind to get rid of Li, said Shi.

Bai is the general manager of the Huanyu Group, a company under the transport bureau. He had served as the bureau's director and vice chairman of the city's political advisory body.

Li Xingguang, 47, was stabbed to death at around 6 p.m. on Aug.17 in from of his residence in Hegang. The killer Xu Guangdong escaped after the murder of the government official, an unusual thing in China.

Police had arrested four suspects before Bai was seized by police Friday morning.

The four suspects are Wang Jianbo, 50, an executive in a company under the transport bureau and a cousin of Bai who planned the murder as told by Bai; Yang Jingwu, 42; Xu Guangdong, 41; and Xu Guangbei, 39.

Wang went to his friend Yang to hire a killer, and was introduced to Xu Guangbei. Xu Guangdong, the elder brother of Xu Guangbei, accepted the killing mission, according to the police.

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2009)