Four people have been detained in Moldova as a result of 33 raids conducted today as part of an international investigation involving Moldovan, French, British and U.S. law enforcement.
Veronica Dragalin, Moldova’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, told a press briefing that the investigation targets a number of officials, including Moldovan ones, who are suspected of taking bribes from people on Interpol’s Red Notices watchlist to help them get asylum or refugee status. The total amount of the bribes is believed to be in the order of millions of US dollars.
Interpol alerted law enforcement in France, the organization’s host country, to the scheme and is cooperating in the joint investigation.
Evidence also shows that an international criminal organization, with links to individuals from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries, suspected of committing cybercrimes, which caused millions of dollars in damages, paid bribes to intermediaries and officials in Moldova for to inform wanted criminals of the Red Notices status.
According to Veronica Dragalin, the FBI and the UK’s National Crime Agency provided relevant information to Moldova during the investigation. 33 searches were conducted on 12 people this morning with help from French prosecutors and the FBI. As a result of the searches, digital devices, objects and documents were seized to be examined.
A Red Notice issued by Interpol is a request to law enforcement around the world to locate a person for the purposes of extradition, surrender or other similar actions. It is based on a request made by a member country providing an arrest warrant or court order issued by the judicial authorities of the requesting country. Each country applies its own laws to decide what action to take based on a Red Notice.
