TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - In a statement posted on a government website, the authorities said Meng Hongwei, China's vice minister for public security, was being investigated due to his own "willfulness and for bringing trouble upon himself."
It elaborated on a terse announcement late Sunday by an agency of the ruling Communist Party that investigates graft and political disloyalty that said that Meng was suspected of unspecified legal violations.
Meng is now the latest high-ranking official, and one with an unusually prominent international standing, to fall victim to a sweeping crackdown by the ruling party.
In a sign of how seriously the authorities regard the case, Zhao Lezhi, the minister for public security chaired a meeting in the early hours of Monday morning with senior officials of the ministry's party committee to discuss it, the statement said.
French judicial officials had said Friday that the 64-year-old Meng was missing. His unexplained disappearance while on a trip home to China late last month had prompted the French government and Interpol to make their concerns known publicly in recent days.
Interpol announced Sunday that Meng had resigned as president of the international police agency, effective immediately, shortly after China announced that Meng was under investigation.
Source: AP