Dragalin: Moldovan officials received millions of dollars by preventing the search for criminals

Moldovan officials accepted bribes to provide criminals with information about the status of “red cards” wanted by Interpol.

The amount of these bribes exceeds several million dollars. The head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Veronica Dragalin, announced this at a briefing, tv8.md reports.

Prosecutors, together with their French colleagues, with the assistance of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), conducted 33 searches of 12 people suspected of implementing a corruption scheme. 4 people were detained and placed under preliminary arrest for 72 hours.

The scheme involved an international criminal group with ties to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries, which paid bribes to obtain information about the status of “red cards”.

Wanted criminals could obtain asylum or refugee status in Moldova or other countries in order to block Interpol notifications about their search. The scheme involves not only officials from Moldova, but also from other countries.

“There is reasonable suspicion that a group of individuals of various nationalities carried out an alleged corruption scheme allowing persons subject to Interpol Red Notices to obtain asylum or refugee status in the Republic of Moldova and other countries with the aim of blocking and canceling their Red Notices by paying bribes to government officials, including in the Republic of Moldova, the estimated amounts paid by the beneficiaries of these schemes amount to several million US dollars,” noted the head of the specialized prosecutor’s office.

Dragalin noted that monitoring systems revealed suspicious activity regarding requests for “red cards” from the international police, and information from colleagues from France also helped.

She added that this joint investigation is proof that international law enforcement cooperation is critical to identifying and disrupting the activities of corrupt criminals who transcend national borders.

The International Criminal Police Organization includes 196 countries. Currently, more than 70 thousand people from all over the world are wanted by Interpol.

An Interpol red notice, or “red card,” is a request to law enforcement agencies of all countries of the world cooperating within the framework of international police to search for a person suspected of committing a crime. The main criteria for issuing a “red card” are being charged with a serious criminal offense, being placed on the criminal wanted list and a corresponding request.

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