Lithuanian authorities said on Friday that Roman Ruzhechko, who is suspected of causing billions in losses for contaminating one of the largest Russian oil pipelines earlier this year, has been detained in Vilnius and has asked for political asylum, Reuters reported.

For authorities at Heathrow Airport, June 1 proved to be far from business as usual, as they seized approximately US$5 million worth of solid gold bars being trafficked through the airport, a National Crime Agency (NCA) press release announced Saturday. 

Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Culture wants to know where the money UNESCO granted for the management of two World Heritage sites went after suspicious documents emerged, hinting at corruption.

Apartments built by the construction company of the son of a Tajik government official were so poorly built that authorities said on Friday they will withdraw the firm’s licence. The poor construction did not prevent the father from selling out all flats during working hours from his government office.

Trying to defuse public pressure, Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló announced on Sunday that he would not seek re-election and would resign as head of the Puerto Rico New Progressive Party.

A hair salon in Athens offered migrants a make-over that made them look like the legal owners of the documents an organized crime gang gave them as part of a smuggling scheme.

Kazakh police detained poet Ramil Niyazov as he held a one-man anti-government protest on Thursday in Almaty, holding a banner that read “Publicity discloses the insignificance of authoritarianism. Nazarbayev, 1987.” 

Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism published a story on Thursday that claims three members of the Governor Ricardo Rossello’s infamous Telegram chat have made millions off their proximity to the Governor.

Transnational crime groups in Southeast Asia are growing increasingly aggressive and illicit businesses are generating massive growths in profit though the trafficking of drugs, people, counterfeit goods and other commodities, outlines a new United Nations report published Thursday.

Recently elected President and former comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy candidly expressed his growing awareness of the sizable challenge he faces in his crusade to uproot corruption in Ukraine, the campaign promise that paved the way to his surprising victory in April and one he says is still his “top priority.”