Searches were carried out on Tuesday, June 4, in Moldova, by the country’s anti-corruption prosecutor’s office as part of an international investigation into suspicions of attempted deletion of red notices from the International Criminal Police Organization, commonly known as “Interpol », announced this organization and the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), which is participating in the operation.
The operation targets, according to financial prosecutor Jean-François Bohnert, an attempt to ” corruption “ of “officials”notably in Moldova, “to obstruct the distribution by Interpol of red notices targeting internationally wanted fugitives”.
“A group of people of different nationalities are suspected of having implemented a corruption scheme to allow fugitives to block and erase red notices targeting them, by paying bribes to public officials , especially in Moldova »specified Mr. Bohnert in a press release.
The amounts of these bribes could reach “several million dollars”, he added. According to a source close to the case contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), these fugitives partly belonged to organized crime. These operations took place in thirty-three different locations in Moldova, targeted twelve suspects and resulted in the placement in police custody of four people, according to the prosecutor.
“Several million dollars”
According to another source close to the matter joined by AFP, “The people in police custody are all Moldovans. These are officials from the Ministry of the Interior. Mainly concerned are the national central office Interpol of Moldova and the service handling asylum applications”.
Mr. Bohnert specified that the French procedure had been open since August 25, 2023, entrusted to investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses (OCLCIFF) “based on information provided by Interpol”. Representatives of the PNF and OCLCIFF, as well as the FBI, the American federal police, were present during the operation on Tuesday, according to the PNF.
The International Criminal Police Organization, based in Lyon, specified in a separate press release that, “ [à la suite de] to the detection of an attempted diversion » of its operation “in a small number of cases” in order to “block and delete red notices”, “those responsible [d’Interpol avaient] took immediate internal measures and [avaient] reported the facts to the authorities » In France.
Interpol also mentioned a parallel cybercriminal investigation carried out by the British authorities, “which revealed that people suspected of corruption in Moldova could have passed information on red notices to wanted people”.
Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock stressed in the statement that the alleged fraud involved “a small number of red notices” out of the 70,000 distributed by the organization. “While we are confident in the security of our systems, we do not tolerate misuse of any kind”he added.