Our last post discussed a recent case in Nepal in which former prime minister Sher Bahadur, along with his wife, former foreign minister Arzu Rana Deuba, have been under investigation in an alleged money laundering scheme. Today we will address the potential methods countries use to extradite individuals after failure to obtain a Red Notice. 

Next steps following a Red Notice denial

Since the Red Notice request has been denied, there have been alleged reports of the Dueba couple staying in Hong Kong. Without access to INTERPOL’s tools though, Napoli authorities are left to search for the couple independently.

After a failed Red Notice request, a country has other options to obtain the accused individual, including:

  • Renewing the Red Notice request after gathering the missing information requested by INTERPOL to ‘fill in the gaps,’ and re-submit the Red Notice request.
  • Communicate the charges between countries and try to initiate extradition proceedings without INTERPOL’s involvement.
  • Attempt to convince the country where the subject is located to initiate deportation (removal) proceedings. While not technically an extradition proceedings, we often see member countries attempt to influence deportation or removal proceedings for wanted persons, particularly where the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.

The reason so many countries seek INTERPOL’s assistance in extradition matters is because locating a wanted person is much more likely when INTERPOL’s tools are available: they aid in detecting a person’s presence when any border crossing or law enforcement interaction occurs. Thus, while it is possible to achieve extradition without INTERPOL’s involvement, it is more challenging to locate and identify the person absent the use of INTERPOL’s tools.

As always, thoughts and comments are welcomed.