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(LYON, France) – The wife of the former Interpol president, who has disappeared in China, revealed that she had received a threatening phone call about the presence of agents who would pick her up while she was engaged in an unsuccessful battle to obtain information on the fate of her husband.
In her first personal interview since the disappearance of Meng Hongwei, Grace Meng denied allegations of corruption made against her well-known husband, and told the Associated Press that talking about her disappearance put her "in great danger".
Meng Hongwei, also deputy Chinese minister of public security, disappeared on a return trip to China last month. Former Communist Party insider with decades of experience in China's sprawling security apparatus, this 64-year-old man is the last high-ranking official to have been the victim of a grand purge against officials allegedly corrupt or disloyal under President Xi Jinping's authoritarian administration.
Addressing the AP on Monday in a hotel in Lyon, France, where Interpol is based, Grace Meng said that her last contact with her husband had been via SMS on September 25, when she was not in charge. he had written "wait for my call" and had sent an emoji image of a knife after his return to China.
After a week without news and one evening when she was home in Lyon, after putting their two young boys to bed, she then received a threatening call on her cell phone from a man speaking in Chinese.
"He said," You listen but you do not talk, "she said. He continued, "We came in two work teams, two work teams just for you."
She added that the man had also said, "We know where you are" and that when she tried to ask a question, he repeated, "You do not speak, you only listen to me" .
As a result, Ms. Meng is now under the protection of the French police.
Chinese authorities said on Monday that Meng Hongwei was under legal investigation for accepting bribes and other crimes attributable to his "will". A few hours earlier, Interpol had said that Meng had resigned from his post as president of the international police agency. It was not clear he had done it of his own free will.
Ms. Meng suggested that the bribery charge is only an excuse to "make it disappear so long".
"As a woman, I think he's just incapable of that," she said. She said that she would be willing to make their bank accounts public.
She said that she had expressed her hope that it could help other families in similar circumstances.
Ms. Meng refused to provide her real name to the PA, claiming that she was too afraid for the safety of her relatives in China. Chinese wives are not used to adopting the name of their husbands. Ms. Meng said that she had already done so to show her solidarity with her husband. Her English name, Grace, is the one she's been using for a long time, she said.
A French judicial officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to the PA that the police were investigating the threat to Ms. Meng, but that the police were not in charge. The investigation had still not determined whether Chinese teams had actually been sent to Lyon.
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Gillian Wong in Beijing contributed to this report.
