LYON, France - On 24 May 2013, the Independent Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF) concluded that the Russian Federation’s use of INTERPOL’s channels to seek information concerning Mr William Browder was predominantly political in nature and therefore contrary to INTERPOL’s rules and regulations. It recommended that all data relating to Russian Federation’s request concerning Mr Browder be deleted from INTERPOL’s databases.
The General Secretariat immediately implemented the CCF’s recommendation, and all INTERPOL member countries were informed of the CCF’s findings and recommendation as well as the General Secretariat’s actions.
Today, Friday 26 July, INTERPOL received another request from the National Central Bureau of Moscow concerning Mr Browder, this time seeking to locate and arrest Mr Browder with a view to his extradition on a charge of ‘qualified swindling’ as defined by the Russian Penal Code.
INTERPOL considers this charge to be covered by the previous decision of May 2013. Therefore all information related to this request for Mr Browder’s arrest has been deleted from INTERPOL’s databases and all INTERPOL member countries have been informed accordingly.
INTERPOL has taken the decision to make its decisions and actions public in response to the Russian Federation’s request, given their public statement on the matter.
INTERPOL has no further comment at this time.