Six journalists killed in Europe in 2021, 95 more in prison

In Europe, the number of murders of journalists has tripled this year compared to the previous two years. In 2021, the International and European Federations of Journalists have recorded six murders of journalists on the European continent: Hazım Özsu, shot dead in his home in Turkey; TV reporter Giorgos Karaivaz, gunned down outside his home in Greece; journalists Maharram Ibrahimov and Siraj Abishov, killed by a landmine explosion in Azerbaijan; crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, shot in the head in The Netherlands; and journalist Aleksandre Lashkarava who died after being severely beaten in Georgia

The prominent Dutch crime reporter Peter R de Vries, who was shot and seriously wounded in central Amsterdam, has died.

Pandora Papers journalists face government backlash for investigating financial secrecy

Even as governments worldwide responded to the Pandora Papers with major financial reforms, other governments and their supporters responded with legal and regulatory crackdowns, legal threats and verbal attacks against the journalists who produced the blockbuster exposé of the offshore financial system.

The Pandora Papers

Millions of leaked documents and the biggest journalism partnership in history have uncovered financial secrets of 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories, and a global lineup of fugitives, con artists and murderers.

THE PEGASUS PROJECT

Through Pegasus, corrupt and troubled regimes across the world can gain access to vast troves of personal information on just about anyone they want. The spyware, sold as a crime-fighting tool, is already known to have been used against journalists, activists, and political dissidents.

On the decline since Panama Papers, Malta punished for dirty money reputation

The Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body that investigates, and makes recommendations for anti-money laundering initiatives, added Malta, along with Haiti, the Philippines and South Sudan to its list of countries deemed to have insufficient protections against dirty money. These four countries joined 19 other jurisdictions on the watchdog’s grey list, which includes Syria, Myanmar and Panama.

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The inclusion of Malta on the list as a jurisdiction “under increased monitoring” will likely make it harder for the small country to attract international banking and investment. 

A Dutch journalist exposed the mob and defied death threats. Now he’s been shot

It was evening in Amsterdam when Peter R. de Vries stepped out of the television studio and into the busy downtown streets. Decades of investigating cold-case killings and mob hits had earned the silver-haired 64-year-old accolades and a reputation as one of the most famous journalists in the Netherlands

Collective – shocking exposé of needless deaths in Romania

The cynicism and indifference to suffering is truly horrible, and a kind of insidious evil rises from the screen like carbon monoxide, and also a terrible sadness. There is a moment ... when Tolontan and his colleagues are shown a secretly filmed video of maggots wriggling in a patient’s incompetently dressed wound. If that was in a fictional film, the metaphor would be dismissed as too obvious. Finally, Tolontan and his team are shown discussing sinister communications they have had from the intelligence services, telling them to be careful, for their families’ sake.

One of the biggest thefts of public funds in Russia: a $230 million tax fraud revealed by Magnitsky, a Moscow accountant

In 2012, OCCRP, Novaya Gazeta, and Barron’s identified Prevezon Holdings as a beneficiary of money originating from one of the biggest thefts of public funds in Russia: a $230 million tax fraud revealed by Magnitsky, a Moscow accountant. Russian authorities turned the tables, accusing Magnitsky of the fraud he had exposed. He died in prison from suspected abuse and lack of medical treatment.

Berman was fired by Trump in June. He is the second high-profile prosecutor dealing with the Prevezon case to be removed by the Trump administration, following the 2017 firing of Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney who filed the money laundering case against Prevezon.

The FinCEN Files

The FinCEN Files investigation is based on thousands of “suspicious activity reports” and other US government documents that BuzzFeed News has shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and more than 100 news organizations around the world. It offers an unprecedented view of global financial corruption, the banks enabling it, and the government agencies that fail to stop it.

Secretive high-end art world can be vehicle for dirty money

The United States Treasury Department is putting art galleries and museums on notice over the high risks of financial crime in their trade, warning that various aspects of the art industry makes “it attractive to those engaged in illicit financial activity, including sanctions evasion.”

Heller also advises Dasha Zhukova, the ex-wife of Putin-aligned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and a longtime friend of the Kushner-Trumps.

Russian journalist dies after setting herself on fire

A Russian journalist died on Friday after setting herself on fire in front of the local branch of the interior ministry in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, a day after her apartment was searched by police, her news outlet said. Prior to her self-immolation, Irina Slavina wrote on her Facebook page: “I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death.”

Slovakia: the mastermind of the killings was cleared

Marian Kočner, once one of the most powerful people in the country, and his former lover were both cleared of ordering the killings during the hearing on September 3, at the culmination of one of the most high-profile trials in Slovakian history. Long a fixture in the local tabloids due to his extravagant wealth and rumored connections to organized crime, Kočner was only found guilty of one count of possessing ammunition, which he had already admitted. He was handed a 5,000-euro fine.

No other organization works quite like OCCRP

With 50 independent media member centers and more than 40 additional publishing partners around the world OCCRP global reach allows it to follow the money — and patterns of criminal behavior — across borders. 

Just last week, OCCRP exposed serious problems in the murky market for rapid COVID-19 antibody tests by collaborating with it's member centers and partners in Macedonia, Italy, Russia, Serbia, and Indonesia. 

To tackle these global stories that affect local audiences, OCCRP is leading the way in networked investigative journalism for the public good. Take “Fraud Factory,” another story we broke earlier this year, which exposed a multi-country network of call-center scammers who sold fake investments to vulnerable people in more than 20 countries, from the Arctic Circle to the Ecuadorian Amazon. Some of these victims lost everything.  

With it's member centers and publishing partners in Ukraine, Albania, Georgia, the Czech Republic, and Latin America, along with OCCRP expert in-house researchers and fact-checkers, OCCRP published stories in over a dozen media outlets. Swedish authorities opened an investigation into the group and were able to trace connections between the call center and government officials in Albania and Georgia.

It is these working relationships and the trust OCCRP have built with journalists all over the world that make it possible for it to work with people in so many different countries — collaborations that lead to increased impact and results.

If you believe in OCCRP mission, please join the fight for truth and justice and become an Accomplice today

In the hands of OCCRP team of trained researchers and journalists, information can make a difference. We call on you to help OCCRP by providing information on rigged tenders, frauds, scams, corruption, environmental disasters and abuses of power. If your tips and data could change the status quo, or even save lives, OCCRP wants to hear about it.

Slovak Police Arrest Judges in Kuciak’s Murder Case

Slovak police said they have arrested 18 people, including 13 judges, who allegedly obstructed justice in the case of the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee in 2018.

Daphne murder: 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech arrested

17 Black was identified in a leaked e-mail as one of two sources of income for the Panama companies Hearnville and Tillgate, which were set up by Office of the Prime Minister consultants Nexia BT for Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri.

Miroslava: The Journalist Who Refused to be Complicit

On March 4, 2016, Miroslava Breach and her colleague Patricia Mayorga from Proceso magazine simultaneously published an article claiming that mayoral candidates in eight municipalities (seven from the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI and one more from the National Action Party or PAN) had connections to drug traffickers

Two businessmen have become millionaires through a Lithuanian lottery — without buying a single ticket

Antanas Muraska and Donatas Kazlauskas, the two directors of the Olifeja lottery, have diverted millions of euros into their own pockets, according to an investigation by OCCRP‘s Lithuanian member center, 15min.lt.

UNODC Warns of Rising Role of Organized Crime in Southeast Asia

study conducted by the UN Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC) found that the methamphetamine market in the region has exploded in size and value, and is now estimated to be worth between roughly US$30 billion and $60 billion. 

Senegal’s Offshore Oil Reserves a Pricey Pawn in Covert Deal

A Romanian-Australian businessman with a history of fraud, corruption, and misleading investors appears to have received at least $650 million from a West African oil and gas deal carried out with the help of well-positioned relatives of two consecutive Senegalese presidents.

Journalists Killed or Silenced for Environmental Reporting

OCCRP and Forbidden Stories – a consortium of 40 journalists in 15 countries – takes a look at examples from three continents, in Guatemala, Tanzania, and India.