GPC employees charged with extortion

Three employees of the Criminal Police Department of the General Police Commissariat (GPC), and a woman, have been charged with the extortion of $10,000 from a Ukrainian female citizen and a citizen of Great Britain. The criminal proceedings were forwarded to the Center district Court for examination, reports Info-Prim Neo. The prosecutors accuse the policemen for the abuse of the position for the fulfillment of personal interests, large scale passive corruption and illegal detention. The woman, who is also being accused, has the status of accomplice. According to a communique form the Prosecutor General’s Office, during a meeting with two foreign citizens, the accused woman found out that they could hire her as a dancer at a night club. She passed on the information to the policemen. Without having the intention to travel abroad, acting upon the policemen’s advice, she told the two foreigners that she would take the offer, while recording the entire conversation on an audio-video recording device that had been given to her by the policemen. In order to make their actions seem legal, the policemen have registered the material obtained with the Commissariat, as an inspection preceding the actual criminal investigation. Contrary to the Criminal Investigation Code, the policemen have illegally detained the foreign citizens in a municipal apartment, and using the material recorded as a threat to charge them for human trafficking they asked for $50,000 in order to stop further investigations. Later, however, they agreed upon the sum of $10,000. The first payment, of $2,200 was made on May 9, 2012. At the moment of handing another $1,500, which was supposed to be the second payment, the accused were caught red-handed by Anticorruption officers and prosecutors. The three employees have been members of the General Police Commissariat for terms between 5 and 15 years.