Moldova's top official for Interpol has been detained and indicted on a corruption charge, his lawyer said Friday, after several arrests this week in a vast operation over sabotaged "red notices" for wanted suspects.
Four interior ministry employees were arrested on Tuesday in raids on dozens of places in Moldova in connection with the corruption scheme, according to French authorities.
Under the scheme, wanted people could block or delete red notices targeting them by paying bribes to public agents, especially in Moldova, according to France's financial crimes prosecutor Jean-Francois Bohnert.
Sources close to the operation said those targeted had links to organised crime.
Interpol, whose headquarters are in the French city of Lyon, says the suspected fraud concerned only "a small number" of the organisation's 70,000 red notices.
The four Moldovan officials have been released from custody while the investigation continues.
But on Thursday, interior ministry official Viorel Tentiu, who heads Moldova's international police cooperation centre and is the country's top official to work with Interpol, was indicted and ordered detained, his lawyer Sergiu Bularu told AFP.
"Mr Viorel Tentiu pleads not guilty to the charge of corruption," he said, adding that his client was appealing his 30-day detention.
Moldova's chief anti-corruption prosecutor Veronica Dragalin said the operation to catch all those involved in the scheme was still ongoing, and more arrests could be made.
Moldova Prime Minister Dorin Recean said the crackdown underscored the government's anti-graft efforts.
"We have had so much corruption in the last 30 years. Here we finally have some results in identifying and punishing these corrupt people," Recean said Thursday.
Moldova's pro-EU government is pushing for the former Soviet republic of 2.5 million people to join the EU.
The country, which is wedged between war-torn Ukraine and EU member Romania, has been an official candidate to join the European Union since June 2022.