Meng Hongwei, 65, the former Chinese president of Interpol stripped of all titles and accused of squandering state funds to finance his “family’s extravagant lifestyle”, party watchdog says.
Related: the year of missing people in China
Meng Honwei was also a member of the party’s central committee.
He was also accused of encouraging his wife to use her status to pursue her own interests.
The Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspections said the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party also approved an investigation into Meng, who was a member of the same commission and served as deputy minister for public security.
The investigation committee has accused Meng of abusing his position to achieve personal interests and squandering public money to support “his family’s extravagant lifestyle”.
According to the report, all assets acquired through illegal activities were confiscated.
Meng climbed the party hierarchy to become head of the country’s public security services and in 2004 head of Interpol’s Chinese office, and the organization’s first Chinese president in 2016.
Last 25 September, he disappeared after arriving in China from France.
He sent his wife Grace an emoji of a knife, perhaps alluding to some danger.
Grace Meng reported the disappearance of her husband to the French police on October 4, and she was put under protection after receiving some phone calls of threats.
Earlier this year she requested political asylum from France.
On October 6, Interpol requested to the Chinese government information on Meng.
The investigation committee responded the following day confirming the detention.
According to the French agency France-Presse, Grace Meng was unable to communicate with her husband since then and requested the French president Emmanuel Macron to discuss the issue during Xi Jinping’s recent tour of Europe.
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