The officials are believed to have accepted bribes totalling several million U.S. dollars in exchange for offering criminals safe harbor in Moldova from Red Notices issued in their names, or for deleting the arrest warrants altogether.
Moldova’s Anti-corruption Prosecution Office ordered raids on 33 locations to seek out and detain the suspects, as part of a multilateral investigation that includes federal authorities across the U.K., the U.S., France, and Spain.
The conspiracy was revealed by the U.S. Secret Service, whose agents discovered that criminals possessed classified Interpol information.
As the closest thing to an international arrest warrant, a Red Notice alerts law enforcement across all of Interpol’s 196 member states worldwide that a particular individual is a wanted fugitive and should be detained immediately upon discovery.
A subsequent joint investigation soon determined that a group of fugitives have formed a multinational criminal network, wherein they have bribed their way to obtaining “asylum or refugee status in the Republic of Moldova and in other countries,” Moldovan prosecutors said.
The ultimate goal behind this conspiracy is to pay millions of dollars to see their Red Notices blocked or, better yet, deleted.
“These corrupt officials abused their positions to provide a service that enabled some of the world’s most serious criminals to attempt to operate, travel freely and evade detection by law enforcement,” said Paul Foster, Threat Leadership Director of the U.K.’s National Crime Agency.
The Secret Service said that it was unable to comment any further on the corruption scheme, citing that it is an ongoing investigation.
There are currently more than 70,000 active Red Notices worldwide, according to Interpol’s Secretary General, Jürgen Stock.
Additional evidence has also emerged that a cybercrime group, spanning Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other countries, that has caused millions in damages is amongst the alleged corrupt officials’ clientele.
In addition to arresting four officials tied to the bribery conspiracy, Moldovan police seized terabytes of data from laptops and mobile devices as part of Tuesday’s raids.
At this time, the four are expected to remain in detention for up to 72 hours.
“We are committed to fighting high-level corruption in all of its forms, particularly those schemes that put in jeopardy criminal investigations worldwide,” said Veronica Dragalin, Chief of the Anti-corruption Prosecution Office of Moldova.
“This joint investigation is a testament that international cooperation between law enforcement agencies is crucial in detecting and stopping corrupt actors who have reach beyond national borders.”