In the last post, I discussed the endemic corruption in Russia’s courts and the need for INTERPOL’s heightened scrutiny of Russia’s Red Notice requests.  Today’s focus is on the reason that some litigants fare much worse than others in Russia’s courts, and how that affects INTERPOL.

While Russians generally seem to agree that basic, low-level

INTERPOL has received improper requests for Red Notices from Russia in the past, and all current indicators point to a worsening of the situation rather than an improvement.

Russia is an INTERPOL member country and is currently ranked 28 on Transparency International’s corruption index.  A score of 28 means that Transparency International has determined that

In the last post, I addressed the issue of INTERPOL’s involvement in financial disputes arising from debts owed by individuals to financial institutions in the UAE. Today, the focus expands to the broader question of how some member countries abuse INTERPOL’s tools, specifically Red Notices, when they seek to resolve private disputes.

INTERPOL is prohibited

Humberto Roca’s story may seem unusual to Western minds, but it is all too familiar in the world of INTERPOL abuse.  Roca was the owner of a Bolivian airline company called Aerosur Airlines, and as a wealthy business owner who was critical of Bolivia’s government, was charged with “unjust enrichment” as his business was expropriated

This post was originally published on July 18, 2011; this is an updated version.

Today’s post addresses an insightful and very personal comment that was posted here.  The author of that comment noted, correctly, that INTERPOL is sometimes used to further the corrupt goals of certain law enforcement officials in various member countries.  Obviously

INTERPOL’s role in the world of law enforcement, boiled down to its bare bones, is to aid its member countries with two things:  1) alerting them to the movement of wanted persons, and 2) assisting in the apprehension of wanted persons.  The alerting is normally accomplished via a member country’s request for a Red Notice.

In order for INTERPOL to exist, it must be financed.  Certainly, it receives occasional donations and gifts. But by and large, like any other large and voluntary organization, it can function because members pay “dues.” 

All member countries pay to be member countries of INTERPOL.  The fee for membership is commensurate with the country’s fiscal