Former Interpol official Arrested in UAE in red notice corruption case

 A former senior Interpol official, Vitalie Pirlog, has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates following an international arrest alert issued by the international police agency at the request of France, authorities announced Wednesday.

Pirlog, a Moldovan national and former head of Interpol’s Commission for the Control of Files, which reviews red notices, is accused of involvement in a corruption scheme that allowed fugitives to have arrest alerts lifted in exchange for bribes.

The UAE Ministry of Interior said Pirlog was detained on Sunday and now faces multiple charges, including forgery, bribery, facilitating bribery, and fraud.

Pirlog, who also previously served as Moldova’s justice minister and director of the intelligence service, led the sensitive commission at Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, from 2017 to 2022. After stepping down, he moved to Dubai, where he became a target of investigations by French and Moldovan prosecutors.

The probe centers on allegations that corrupt officials and lawyers in Moldova exploited Interpol rules meant to protect political refugees, helping criminals, including those wanted for drug trafficking, evade capture.

One such case involves Tarik Kerbouci, a suspect in a major French cocaine trafficking investigation. Kerbouci was arrested in Dubai under a red notice but was released after the alert was mysteriously withdrawn. Prosecutors allege he and other fugitives used forged documents to falsely claim they had sought asylum in Moldova, a status that typically blocks the issuance of red notices under Interpol rules.

In June 2023, Moldovan prosecutors, with assistance from the FBI, raided over 30 properties in Chisinau, including Interpol’s local office and a residence belonging to Pirlog. He had left the country shortly before the raids, raising suspicions that he had been tipped off.

Moldova’s national police chief described the scheme as a “big carousel” of corruption. Authorities believe dozens of fugitives benefited from the scam, paying intermediaries to manipulate Interpol’s protections for asylum seekers.

Interpol declined to comment on Pirlog’s arrest. “This is a matter for local authorities,” said Samuel Heath, a spokesman for the agency in Lyon.

British investigators are also reportedly pursuing a parallel investigation related to cybercriminals who allegedly paid Moldovan officials to check whether they were subject to red notices — which are typically confidential and accessible only to law enforcement.

Interpol currently has over 80,000 active red notices, but only about 8% are made public, to avoid alerting fugitives.

Pirlog’s attorney in Moldova, Nicolae Posturusu, declined to comment on the arrest.