Vitalie Pirlog, former Moldovan minister, extradited from the United Arab Emirates to France
Vitalie Pirlog, former Moldovan Justice Minister, was extradited from the United Arab Emirates to France on Friday, July 18. Considered the mastermind of a corruption network aiming to erase Interpol red notices against international fugitives, he is now under formal investigation for a series of serious offenses by the French judiciary.
SUMMARY
Long portrayed as a respectable high-ranking official, Vitalie Pirlog is now at the heart of an international scandal shaking judicial and security circles. As the former Minister of Justice of Moldova and former chairman of the Interpol file control commission, the 50-year-old man is accused of misusing his roles to manipulate the global alert mechanism known as the famous “red notices”.
Arrested in Dubai in June 2025, based on a European arrest warrant issued by France, Pirlog was extradited on this Friday, July 18, and indicted for organized fraud, influence peddling, use of forged documents, corruption of foreign public official and aiding in evasion from arrest. Once on French soil, he was put in provisional detention pending his hearing before the judge for freedoms and detention.
His lawyer, Mr. Emmanuel Marsigny, strongly contests the validity of his client’s arrest. According to him, his client had communicated his location to French authorities and was awaiting a summons. “Mr. Pirlog is certainly not someone who intended to flee justice,” he insists to AFP.
A well-oiled system for whitewashing criminals?
Behind this case, French justice claims to have dismantled an entire network. The investigation, launched in August 2023 based on intelligence provided by Interpol, has revealed a “structured corruption device”, according to the national financial prosecutor Jean-François Bohnert.
At the head of the Interpol commission responsible for controlling files and deletion requests for red notices, Pirlog is accused of having abused his strategic position to favor deletion requests. In return, sums of several million dollars are said to have been paid, notably through intermediaries in Moldova.
The scheme is thought to have enabled about thirty fugitives pursued for drug trafficking, money laundering, or financial crimes to gain refugee status in Moldova. Thanks to this protection, these individuals managed to avoid extraditions requested by their countries of origin.
Among them is the Frenchman Tarik Kerbouci, nicknamed “Bison,” wanted for a major international cocaine trafficking operation. He is suspected of participating in a delivery of 3.3 tons of drugs seized in an Italian port, bound for Marseille.
In this case, Moldova is blamed for serving as a “legal sanctuary” for numerous international criminals.
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