INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Interpol said Meng Hongwei's resignation was effective immediately
The international police organization's statement came shortly after China revealed that Meng was under investigation for unspecified
crimes.Interpol said Meng's resignation was effective immediately.China's top anti-corruption agency said in a one-sentence statement Sunday
that Meng was suspected of breaking the law, without giving details
Meng, who is concurrently a Chinese deputy minister of public security, was elected to head Interpol in 2016 and slated to serve at its
Lyon, France, headquarters until 2020.The unusual case erupted into public view on Friday, when French authorities announced a search for
the Chinese national after his wife, Grace, who is living in France, reported him missing to local police.The mystery deepened dramatically
over the weekend, as Grace Meng told reporters in Lyon to say that her husband had sent her a knife emoji as a way of telling her he was in
danger before he vanished
Grace Meng covered her face during the news conference because she feared for her safety, the Associated Press reported.Interpol said Friday
it was seeking information about its president from Chinese law enforcement.Meng may have been involved high-stakes power struggles, said
Dali Yang, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago."He was in an international post that is significant to China's
ability to influence international events," Yang said
"This damages the image of the Chinese system and shows how it takes people in without due process, so clearly they saw significant,
overriding political reasons to do this."Meng's seizure on suspicion of corruption is an ironic reversal for a Chinese official whose ascent
to the top of Interpol was supposed to aid Beijing's efforts in catching corrupt runaway officials
Under his watch, China submitted to Interpol extensive lists of fugitives suspected of corruption and wanted for extradition.China is now in
the sixth year of a vast anti-corruption campaign launched by President Xi Jinping that has netted thousands of officials and business
Critics in China and abroad have warned that many corruption investigations are politically motivated and used to consolidate Xi's power and
topple rival factions.In recent years, investigators at the Communist Party's influential Central Commission for Discipline Inspection - and
an even more powerful body established this year by Xi, the National Supervisory Commission - have signaled a willingness to pursue
officials in the highest levels of China's security apparatus and military.Zhou Yongkang, a former domestic security czar, was sentenced to
life in 2015 for graft, and the head of counterintelligence, Ma Jian, was prosecuted two years later.(This story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
