Former Interpol president Meng Hongwei admits taking US$2 million in bribes
- The ex-chief of the global policing body faces trial in northern China after last being seen in France in September
A former head of the international policing agency Interpol appeared in court in northern China on Thursday, pleading guilty to taking over 14 million yuan (US$2 million) in bribes, according to state-run People’s Daily.
In a trial at Tianjin No 1 Intermediate People’s Court, Meng Hongwei, the first person from China to head Interpol, admitted using various positions he held from 2005 to 2017 to help companies and people make illegal gains.
The court adjourned and said Meng would be sentenced at a later date.
The trial comes eight months after the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party’s anticorruption watchdog, announced that Meng was under investigation.
The CCDI’s statement confirmed the whereabouts of the 65-year-old, who had not been seen since September 25 last year after leaving his home in the French city of Lyon.
He had sent his wife, Grace Meng, a message on social media telling her to “wait for my call”, along with a knife emoji suggesting he was in some kind of danger.
She reported her husband missing to the French authorities on October 4 and was later put under police protection after receiving threatening messages over the telephone and online. Earlier this year she applied for asylum in France.
China’s former Interpol president arrested on bribery charge
Meng Hongwei took over the top job at Interpol in November 2016 and his appointment was hailed by state media as testimony to the international community’s “full recognition” of China’s law enforcement capacity and status as a country based on the rule of law.
Less than a year later, he hosted Interpol’s general assembly in Beijing, where Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to increase China’s support for the agency and help raise its profile.
Before his downfall, Meng, a Peking University law graduate, was among the most powerful police officers in China.
He was appointed a vice-minister of public security in 2004, and head of the Chinese branch of Interpol in August the same year.
During his career, he was in charge of a number of sensitive portfolios, including the country’s counterterrorism division in 2011, when it responded to violence in Xinjiang.
France grants asylum to wife of ex-Interpol chief detained in China
After his expulsion, the Ministry of Public Security denounced him, saying his “poisonous influence” had to be “thoroughly eliminated”. The ministry also said it was investigating other party cadres allegedly involved in Meng’s case.
The CCDI also accused Meng of encouraging his wife to use his status to further her own interests.
