BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s antigraft watchdog said late on Sunday that the Chinese authorities were investigating Meng Hongwei, who heads the global law enforcement organization Interpol, for suspected violations of the law.

Meng, who is also a vice minister of public security in China, had been reported missing after traveling from France, where Interpol is based, to China, and his wife has been placed under police protection after receiving threats.

French police were investigating what is officially termed in France a “worrying disappearance”. </s> PARIS (Reuters) - French police are investigating the disappearance of Interpol chief, Meng Hongwei, who was reported missing after traveling from France to his native China, and they have placed his wife under protection after threats, the interior ministry said on Friday.

Meng’s wife contacted police in Lyon, the French city where the international police agency is based, after not hearing from him since Sept. 25, and after receiving threats by phone and on social media, the ministry said.

A person familiar with the investigation into the disappearance said the initial working assumption of Western investigators was that Meng had antagonized Chinese authorities in some way and had been detained as a result.

“France is puzzled about the situation of Interpol’s president and concerned about the threats made to his wife,” the ministry said.

Meng’s wife, who has remained in Lyon with their children according to police sources, was receiving protection, it said. “Exchanges with Chinese authorities continue,” the ministry added.

China has not commented officially on Meng’s disappearance and there was no mention of him in official media on Saturday.

China’s Ministry of Public Security did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

There have been several cases in recent years of senior Chinese officials vanishing without explanation, only for the government to announce weeks or even months later that they have been put under investigation, often for suspected corruption.

It was not clear why Meng, 64, who was named Interpol’s president two years ago, had traveled to China.

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post quoted an unnamed source as saying Meng had been taken for questioning as soon as he landed in China, but it also was not clear why.

French police are investigating what is officially termed in France a “worrying disappearance”.

Interpol, which groups 192 countries and which is usually focused on finding people who are missing or wanted, said it was aware of reports about Meng’s “alleged disappearance”.

“This is a matter for the relevant authorities in both France and China,” the agency said in a statement.

Roderic Broadhurst, a professor of criminology at Australian National University, said Meng’s disappearance would be “pretty disconcerting” for people in international bodies that work with China, and could ultimately damage China’s efforts to develop cooperative legal assistance measures with other countries.

“It is bizarre,” Broadhurst said on Saturday, adding that China was likely to “brush off” any political damage that it would cause to Beijing’s involvement in international bodies.

“It’s a price that might have to be paid, but I guess they would see that as a cost worth bearing,” Broadhurst said.

Presidents of Interpol are seconded from their national administrations and remain in their home post while representing the international policing body.

Meng is listed on the website of China’s Ministry of Public Security as a vice-minister, but lost his seat on its key Communist Party Committee in April, the South China Morning Post reported.

Meng has almost 40 years’ experience in criminal justice and policing, and has overseen matters related to legal institutions, narcotics control and counter-terrorism, according to Interpol’s website.

Interpol staff can carry special passports to help speed deployment in emergency situations but that would not have given Meng any specific rights or immunity in his home country.

When Meng was named Interpol’s president in Nov. 2016, human rights groups expressed concern that Beijing might try to leverage his position to pursue dissidents abroad. Beijing has in the past pressed countries to arrest and deport to China citizens it accuses of crimes, from corruption to terrorism.

At the time, Amnesty International called Meng’s appointment “at odds with Interpol’s mandate to work in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Diplomats say the role of Interpol president is largely ceremonial, with day-to-day work carried out by its secretary general, Juergen Stock, and his staff. </s> Interpol said Sunday it had received the resignation of its president, deepening the mystery of the disappearance of Meng Honwei, a Chinese government official who has been missing since last week.

His wife said Sunday her last contact with him came via a WhatsApp text message with a knife emoji and the instructions, “Wait for my call.”

Grace Meng delivered the information to reporters from her hotel room in Lyon, France.

Interpol tweeted Sunday night that it received Meng’s resignation and that Kim Jong Yang of South Korea, a vice president representing Asia on Interpol’s executive committee, would serve as acting president until Interpol’s general assembly picks a permanent president next month.

Interpol has asked Chinese authorities for information about Meng Hongwei. The disciplinary arm of China’s Communist Party released a statement saying Meng “is under investigation by the National Supervision Commission for alleged violations of laws.”

The Interpol statement announcing Meng’s resignation did not mention that he is missing.

Grace Meng said her husband’s whereabouts is a matter that “belongs to the international community.” She added, “Although I can’t see my husband, we are always connected by heart.”

Asked about the text message Grace Meng received, the French Interior Ministry said through a spokesman it has no information to share.

In a statement posted to Twitter on Saturday, Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock said, “Interpol has requested through official law enforcement channels clarification from China’s authorities on the status of Interpol President Meng Hongwei.”

“Interpol’s General Secretariat looks forward to an official response from China’s authorities to address concerns over the President’s well-being,” the statement continued.

Meng Hongwei, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, was the first Chinese official to become president of Interpol, which is based in Lyon. He was not on French soil when he was last seen, according a senior French law enforcement official, who declined to say whether he was in China.

Meng’s wife went to police in Lyon on Thursday to report his disappearance, according to the French Interior Ministry. She told police that she last heard from him 10 days prior and had received threats on social media and by telephone, according to the statement.

“France is looking into the situation of the President of Interpol and is concerned about the threats his wife has received,” the statement said.

It adds that a “suitable police mechanism” was put in place to guarantee Grace Meng’s safety, and that the prosecutor’s office in Lyon has opened an investigation.

A spokeswoman for Interpol, who declined to give her name, refused to say whether Meng had been on official business in China.

“Interpol is aware of media reports in connection with the alleged disappearance of Interpol President Meng Hongwei. This is a matter for the relevant authorities in both France and China,” Interpol said in a statement, declining to comment further.

Meng, who is China’s vice minister for public security and a former head of Interpol China, was elected president of Interpol in November 2016.

The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based newspaper known for its connections inside the Chinese government, said Meng was “taken away” for questioning upon landing in China last week. The newspaper cited an unnamed source.

Meng’s vanishing act bears hallmarks of what happens to senior officials when they are suspected of violating party rules, usually alleged corruption.

Meng oversees the agency’s executive committee, which sets overall strategy. Interpol’s secretary-general is responsible for the day-to-day operations. </s> FILE - This Oct.16, 2007 file photo shows the entrance hall of Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, central France. A French judicial official says Friday Oct.5, 2018 the president of Interpol has been reported missing after traveling to China. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for an ongoing investigation, said Meng Hongwei's wife reported him missing on Friday. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File) (AP) </s> French police are investigating the disappearance of Interpol chief, Meng Hongwei, who was reported missing after travelling from France to his native China, and they have placed his wife under protection after threats, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

Meng's wife contacted police in Lyon, the French city where the international police agency is based, after not hearing from him since Sept 25, and after receiving threats by phone and on social media, the ministry said.

A person familiar with the investigation into the disappearance said the initial working assumption of Western investigators was that Meng had antagonised Chinese authorities in some way and had been detained as a result.

"France is puzzled about the situation of Interpol's president and concerned about the threats made to his wife," the ministry said.

Meng's wife, who has remained in Lyon with their children according to police sources, was receiving protection, it said."Exchanges with Chinese authorities continue," the ministry added.

China has not commented officially on Meng's disappearance and there was no mention of him in official media on Saturday.

China's Ministry of Public Security did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

There have been several cases in recent years of senior Chinese officials vanishing without explanation, only for the government to announce weeks or even months later that they have been put under investigation, often for suspected corruption.

It was not clear why Meng, 64, who was named Interpol's president two years ago, had travelled to China.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post quoted an unnamed source as saying Meng had been taken for questioning as soon as he landed in China, but it also was not clear why.

French police are investigating what is officially termed in France a "worrying disappearance".

Interpol, which groups 192 countries and which is usually focused on finding people who are missing or wanted, said it was aware of reports about Meng's "alleged disappearance".

"This is a matter for the relevant authorities in both France and China," the agency said in a statement.

Roderic Broadhurst, a professor of criminology at Australian National University, said Meng's disappearance would be "pretty disconcerting" for people in international bodies that work with China, and could ultimately damage China's efforts to develop cooperative legal assistance measures with other countries.

"It is bizarre," Broadhurst said on Saturday, adding that China was likely to "brush off" any political damage that it would cause to Beijing's involvement in international bodies.

"It's a price that might have to be paid, but I guess they would see that as a cost worth bearing," Broadhurst said.

Presidents of Interpol are seconded from their national administrations and remain in their home post while representing the international policing body.

Meng is listed on the website of China's Ministry of Public Security as a vice-minister, but lost his seat on its key Communist Party Committee in April, the South China Morning Post reported.

Meng has almost 40 years' experience in criminal justice and policing, and has overseen matters related to legal institutions, narcotics control and counter-terrorism, according to Interpol's website.

Interpol staff can carry special passports to help speed deployment in emergency situations but that would not have given Meng any specific rights or immunity in his home country.

When Meng was named Interpol's president in Nov. 2016, human rights groups expressed concern that Beijing might try to leverage his position to pursue dissidents abroad. Beijing has in the past pressed countries to arrest and deport to China citizens it accuses of crimes, from corruption to terrorism.

At the time, Amnesty International called Meng's appointment"at odds with Interpol's mandate to work in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Diplomats say the role of Interpol president is largely ceremonial, with day-to-day work carried out by its secretary general, Juergen Stock, and his staff. </s> BEIJING - China said on Sunday that it was investigating Meng Hongwei, after the head of the global law enforcement organisation Interpol and Chinese vice minister for security was reported missing in France.

Meng had been reported missing by his wife after traveling last month from France, where Interpol is based, to China.

“Public Security Ministry Vice Minister Meng Hongwei is currently under investigation by the National Supervisory Commission for suspected violations of law,” the Chinese anti-graft body said in a brief statement on its website.

The statement was the first from China since Meng’s disappearance was reported in France on Friday.

When asked about the Chinese announcement on Sunday, France’s Interior Ministry said it had no information.

The French ministry said on Friday that Meng’s family had not heard from him since 25 September, and the French authorities said his wife had been placed under police protection after receiving threats.

French police have been investigating what is officially termed in France a “worrying disappearance”.

Interpol had said it had asked Beijing to clarify Meng’s situation. The organisation had no immediate comment on Sunday.

Local French media reported that Meng’s wife had issued a brief statement from a hotel in Lyon, in which she expressed her concerns over the situation.

“As long as I can’t see my husband in front of me, speaking to me, I can’t have any confidence,” Grace Meng was quoted as saying by French TV stations and Sunday newspapers which added she made the comments with her back to a TV camera, in order to hide her appearance.

Reuters could not confirm those comments attributed to her.

Meng, 64, was named to the post of Interpol president in late 2016, part of a broader Chinese effort to gain leadership positions in key international organisations.

Presidents of Interpol are seconded from their national administrations and remain in their home post while representing the international policing body.

Interpol, which groups 192 countries and is usually focused on finding people who are missing or wanted, is run on a day-to-day basis by its secretary general, Juergen Stock.

When Meng was named Interpol’s president, human rights groups expressed concern that Beijing might try to leverage his position to pursue dissidents abroad. Beijing has in the past pressed countries to arrest and deport to China citizens it accuses of crimes, from corruption to terrorism.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has been engaged in a crackdown on corruption. </s> French police have opened an investigation into the whereabouts of the president of international police cooperation agency Interpol, after his wife reported he had gone missing after travelling home to his native China last week. The French interior ministry said on Friday his wife has been placed under protection after threats.

The ministry said the Interpol chief left Lyon, France, where the international police organization is based, and arrived in China at the end of September. She said there had been no news of him since.

Interpol is aware of media reports in connection with the alleged disappearance of INTERPOL President Meng Hongwei. This is a matter for the relevant authorities in both France and China. The Secretary-General is the Organization’s full-time official responsible for the day to day running of Interpol. Interpol’s General Secretariat headquarters will not comment further.

China has not commented officially on Meng’s disappearance and there was no mention of him in official media on Saturday.

The 64-year-old Meng Hongwei was elected president of Interpol in November 2016. His term is due to run until 2020. A vice minister of public security in China, he previously served as vice chairman of the national narcotics control commission and director of the National Counter-Terrorism Office for China.

Meng’s appointment at Interpol raised concerns among human rights campaigners who said China has a track record of marrying politics and policing. East and South East Asia Regional Director for Amnesty International, Nicholas Bequelin, was one such voice.

This is extraordinarily worrying given China's longstanding practice of trying to use Interpol to arrest dissidents and refugees abroad.

Chinese president Xi Jinping has waged a crackdown on corruption in recent years that saw high level politicians taken to trial over their misdeeds. China filed a list of 100 of its most-wanted suspects with Interpol in April 2014, about one third of which have since been repatriated. </s> Meng Hongwei, the president of the international law enforcement agency Interpol who mysteriously disappeared last week, was missing because he was detained by the Chinese government. On Sunday night, three days after Meng was reported missing, the Chinese Communist Party announced that he had been detained as part of an investigation by the party’s corruption and loyalty watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. which suspected him of “violating the law.’ ” On Saturday, Interpol had demanded that China provide information about Meng’s whereabouts, but officials in the country, which is currently celebrating a weeklong holiday, did not reply. On Sunday, after Meng’s detention was confirmed, Interpol then announced that he had resigned from his post effective immediately.

The last person in contact with the 64-year-old Meng was his wife,

Grace, who told reporters before China’s announcement that she had received a WhatsApp message from him containing nothing but a knife emoji after he had arrived in China, which came several minutes after a message which said, “wait for my call.” When she heard nothing more, she alerted French police and reported him missing on Thursday.

The secretary general of Interpol heads the agency, while Meng had the symbolic but powerful position of running its executive committee, which works on official strategy. He was the first Chinese national to hold the position, which he was appointed to in 2016. And though Meng lives with his family Lyon, France, where Interpol is headquartered, he also retained an official role in China as the country’s vice minister of public security. In the end, China clearly decided that his role at Interpol did not prevent them from detaining him and not even admitting it for days. China has been known to carry out such detentions for years. It is not yet what Meng did to make himself a target.

Interpol still hasn’t confirmed whether or not he was visiting China on agency business. CNN reported earlier Sunday that the way Meng went missing was, in fact, pretty common when senior officials of China’s ruling Communist Party are accused of violating its rules. The South China Morning Post, a newspaper known for its connections to China’s government, itself reported that Meng had been detained for questioning by upon landing in China last week, and indicated he may have been the target of an ongoing anti-corruption campaign in the country — a campaign which Chinese president Xi Jinping has used to consolidate his power. In fact, according to the Times, Meng’s presidency had alarmed some human rights groups at the time he was appointed, as they worried he would use Interpol resources to help China go after dissidents abroad. </s> Interpol says it has received the resignation of Meng Hongwei, the Chinese president of the international police organisation who went missing one week ago.

A statement released by Interpol on Sunday said that Meng has resigned with immediate effect.

Senior vice president Kim Jong Yang of South Korea will become acting president, pending the election of a successor. The statement gave no further details.

The announcement came shortly after China's top anti-corruption body said that Meng is under investigation in that country, ending days of speculation about his whereabouts but still leaving many questions unanswered.

A brief statement on the website of the Chinese National Supervisory Committee said only that Meng was suspected of breaking the law and was under "supervision", a euphemism for in detention.

His family lost touch with him after he travelled from France, where Interpol is based, to China.

Meng's wife has said her husband sent her an image of a knife before he disappeared.

Making her first public comments on the mystery surrounding Meng's whereabouts, Grace Meng on Sunday told reporters in Lyon, France - where Interpol is based - she thinks the knife was her husband's way of trying to tell her he was in danger.

She said she has had no further contact with him since the message was sent on September 25.

Four minutes before Meng shared the image, he sent a message saying "wait for my call", she said.

French prosecutors said on Friday they had launched an investigation.

On Saturday, Interpol formally requested China to notify the organisation of Meng's whereabouts.

Meng is also a vice minister of public security in China. He was elected president of Interpol in 2016 and was due to serve until 2020, according to the organisation's website.

It was unclear how Meng, the first Chinese national to lead Interpol, could have fallen foul of the Chinese authorities.

Meng's case draws parallels with other high-profile detentions in China, where President Xi Jinping has launched a massive anti-corruption drive since taking office five years ago.

The campaign has since punished over 1 million officials of varying stature, who are often suddenly detained without warning only to emerge later in detention.

It is highly irregular, however, for the head of an international organisation of the size and distinction of Interpol to disappear.

Meng's case follows another major disappearance in China of actress Fan Bingbing, who was out of the public eye for months until it was revealed last week that she had been under investigation by tax authorities.
French police launch an investigation into the disappearance of Meng Hongwei, the president of Interpol. He was reported missing after traveling to his native country of China last week.