Former Interpol Official Detained for Role in ‘Big Carousel' of Corruption
A former senior official at Interpol, the international police organization, has been detained in the United Arab Emirates under an arrest alert issued by his former employer at the request of France.
The former official, Vitalie Pirlog, is wanted in France and his home country of Moldova in connection with a sprawling investigation into a scheme that allowed wanted fugitives to get red notices — which are arrest alerts — lifted in return for payments to corrupt officials.
A statement released on Wednesday by the U.A.E.'s ministry of interior said Mr. Pirlog had been apprehended on Sunday and 'now faces multiple charges, including forgery, bribery, facilitating bribery, and fraud.'
Nicolae Posturusu, a lawyer for Mr. Pirlog in Chisinau, Moldova's capital, declined to comment on his client's detention. Samuel Health, the spokesman for Interpol in Lyon, France, also declined to comment, saying Mr. Pirlog's case was 'a matter for local authorities' in the U.A.E.
From 2017 until 2022, Mr. Pirlog, who previously served as justice minister and intelligence service director in the former Soviet republic of Moldova, led a powerful and highly sensitive commission at Interpol's headquarters in Lyon responsible for reviewing red notices.
After leaving the police organization, he relocated to Dubai and came under scrutiny from French and Moldovan investigators looking into how dozens of fugitives wanted for drug trafficking and other crimes had managed to void Interpol arrest alerts against them.
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