China’s ex-Interpol chief pleads guilty to corruption

Former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei has pleaded guilty at a trial in China on Thursday to charges of accepting bribes, Chinese state media reported.

Meng, a Chinese citizen has been under investigation since October 2018. He is accused of taking 14.5 million Yuan ($2.1m) in unlawful payments between 2005 and 2017, using his status and positions, including as vice minister of public security and Marine Police Chief to accumulate the money.

The verdict will be announced at a "select date or time", said court in northern China in a statement, without specifying further.

The Tianjin No.1 Intermediate Court said Meng "showed repentance" during the hearing, which was the culmination of a dramatic case that shook the international police organisation and put a spotlight on China's opaque judicial system.

Interpol, the global police coordination agency based in France, said last October that Meng had resigned as president, days after his wife Grace Meng reported him missing after he travelled back to China.

He was later accused of accepting bribes and expelled from the Communist Party, with China's Public Security Ministry saying in March that Meng's "poisonous influence" had to be "thoroughly eliminated".