Greetings From Amsterdam,
This week’s newsletter starts with some unexpected news out of Slovakia. A Bratislava court has acquitted — for the second time — businessman Marian Kočner of allegedly ordering the assassination of our colleague Ján Kuciak.
The decision was a shock to many, including the families of Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kušnírová, who was also murdered. The victims’ families believe the evidence against Kočner is overwhelming. But the court ruled that Kočner’s ex-lover, who was a partner in many of his schemes, orchestrated the murder. It did not address where she would have gotten the hundreds of thousands of euros to do so.
Investigations into the murders of Kuciak and Kušnírová exposed endemic levels of corruption in Slovakia that allowed Kočner to operate with impunity for years. After mass protests, Slovaks elected a new government that promised more accountability.
Today, however, many say that the old system is trying to stage a comeback.
Now, for the latest in global corruption:
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🇰🇿 Kazakhstan Has Become a Pathway for the Supply of Russia’s War Machine. Here’s How It Works.
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Despite Western sanctions, Russian soldiers and defense manufacturers are still supplying themselves with foreign technology and equipment.
Kazakhstan has become an important conduit for drones and microchips. Our investigation shows exactly how some of these underground supply chains work:
🕹 Getting Drones Into Russia: Drones built by DJI, a leading Chinese manufacturer, are being imported by the Russian company Nebesnaya Mekhanika, or “Sky Mechanics.”
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🌐 The Big Picture: Drones are ubiquitous in Russia’s war against Ukraine, used by both sides for recon, artillery spotting, and propaganda videos.
The investigation shows how this critical foreign technology has made its way into Russia despite Western sanctions. It also covers the import of microchips, used in Russia’s defense industry, through similar schemes.
🤔 Our Data and Sources: This investigation was based on customs data, import and export records, bank transaction records from the companies involved, and corporate records from multiple countries.
>> Read the full story
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🇸🇮 Oštro: Slovenia restricts public access to information about the wealth of government officials. So our member center started a database that tracks their assets. Its sister organization launched the same project in Croatia, where asset declaration data is more accessible 🇭🇷
🇷🇴 Átlátszó Erdély: Our Romanian partner uncovers how a Franciscan foundation operating homes for orphans tried to cover up another case of sexual violence against one of its foster children.
🇱🇧 Daraj: Our Lebanese partner obtained a leaked report revealing that French bank BNP Paribas allowed associates of Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salame to transfer funds with minimal due diligence. Salame, who is accused of money laundering and embezzlement, was the focus of two OCCRP/Daraj investigations.
🇨🇿 Investigace: Our Czech member center, which worked alongside our slain Slovak colleague Jan Kuciak, reports on the acquittal of Marian Kočner, the businessman accused of ordering the murder of the journalist.
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📈 The Network Grows Stronger: OCCRP welcomes two new member centers. You can expect to see their stories in upcoming newsletters.
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🇺🇦 The Kyiv Independent: The Ukrainian outlet, which publishes in English, has an investigative reporting desk and a separate unit dedicated to exposing Russian war crimes. It’s our second Ukrainian member center after Slidstvo.Info.
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🇪🇪 Delfi: Our first Estonian member center is also the largest news site in the country. Its investigations are also published in the Estonian newspapers Eesti Päevaleht and Eesti Ekspress.
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Join the fight against corruption.
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🇺🇸 United States: The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned bribery-related convictions against two real estate developers, a former aide of Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York at the time, in part because the ex-aide was no longer in government when the payments were made. Reuters reports that the Supreme Court has increasingly restricted federal prosecutors in political corruption cases.
🇺🇦 Ukraine: Ukrainian anti-corruption agents have detained the head of the country's highest court, who is suspected of accepting bribes worth about $2.7 million.
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MORE ORGANIZED CRIME NEWS
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🇬🇧 United Kingdom: A U.K. court handed a 13-year prison sentence to the administrator of a scam website that helped fraudsters impersonate banks, retail companies, and government institutions.
🇭🇺 Hungary: A Hungarian court ruled that the cocaine baron known as the “Brazilian Escobar” could be extradited to Belgium, the United States, or his home country nearly a year after he was arrested in a Budapest hotel.
🇪🇺 European Union: In a bid to crackdown on cryptocurrency-related financial crime, EU regulators announced they will force issuers and service providers to collect information on buyers and sellers.
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P.S. Thank you for reading the OCCRP newsletter. Feel free to reply with any feedback.
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