Police Commander: Iran Ready to Send Team to Romania to Help Investigation into Fugitive Judge's Death

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's Interpol Chief Brigadier General Hadi Shirzad announced on Saturday that the country is ready to send a specialized team to Romania to help investigation of the death of a fugitive judge, Gholamreza Mansouri, who was accused of receiving bribe before fleeing the country.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran's Interpol has sent a letter to Romania's Interpol to demand for repatriation of the corpse of the deceased person and asked for complementary information about the incident," General Shirzad said.

"Also, a team of the Iranian police has been set up to investigate the situation of the scene of the incident and the exact cause of death and it will be sent to Romania if they country gives us positive response," he added.

Iran confirmed last Saturday that Mansouri had been arrested by the Interpol in Romania.

"The person is under custody of the Interpol and necessary coordination has been made to extradite him," Judiciary Spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmayeeli told reporters.

He, meantime, said that given the coronavirus outbreak, foreign flights have halted in Romania for now, leading to the delayed extradition of Mansouri.

"We hope that this mutual cooperation (with the Interpol) will continue," Esmayeeli said.

Officials have claimed that the judge, who has left the country, had received a bribe of 500,000 euros ($570,000).

In a video posted online on June 8, Mansouri didn’t give details about his whereabouts, but he said he would return to Iran as soon as travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic are eased.

Some media reports claimed that Mansouri had gone to Germany to receive medical treatment.

The Iranian authorities had issued an alert for Mansouri’s arrest through Interpol and had requested for his extradition to Iran to face trial. Mansouri was arrested in Romania last week but was residing at the Duke Hotel in Bucharest, the capital, while the police monitored him. He had been forbidden from leaving the country. Mansouri was due to be extradited to Iran.

The police in Bucharest on Friday night confirmed that a foreign national staying at the hotel, and who was under police watch, had fallen to his death. Investigations continue to find the reason behind his death.