China said it is investigating the former head of Interpol for bribery and other crimes on Monday, just days after Meng Hongwei sent his wife…
China said it is investigating the former head of Interpol for bribery and other crimes on Monday, just days after Meng Hongwei sent his wife an image of a knife before disappearing from his home in France.
“The investigation against Meng Hongwei taking bribes and suspected violations of law is very timely, absolutely correct and rather wise,” China’s Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.
The probe “fully shows there is no privilege and no exception in front of the law, and anyone who violates the law must be severely punished,” the ministry added.
Meng’s wife Grace told reporters on Sunday that he went missing while traveling in his home country of China last month.
She showed reporters a text message she received from her husband before he disappeared that contained an image of a knife – a warning she took to mean that his life was in danger.
“From now on, I have gone from sorrow and fear to the pursuit of truth, justice and responsibility toward history,” she said. “For the husband whom I deeply love, for my young children, for the people of my motherland, for all the wives and children, so that their husbands and fathers will no longer disappear.”
Meng, 64, was last heard from on Sept. 25, and the lack of details about his disappearance led French authorities and Interpol to go public.
In a statement on Sunday, Interpol announced that Meng had resigned and was being replaced by Kim Jong Yang.
He said the international law enforcement organization based in Lyon, France, was still in the dark about Meng.
“We still don’t have sufficient information about what’s happening (with Meng) or whether it has anything to do with Chinese domestic politics,” he told the Associated Press.
Meng, the first Chinese person to head Interpol, was at one time the vice minister of Public Security, which oversees law enforcement in the country.
Monday’s statement from the ministry suggested he may be caught up in the corruption investigation into Zhou Yongkang, a former top official in the Communist Party of China and one time minister of Public Security.
In 2015, Zhou was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on bribery charges.
“We should resolutely oppose corruption and resolutely eliminate the pernicious influence of Zhou Yongkang,” the statement said.
With Post Wires
