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🧭 NAVIGATE THIS NEWSLETTER
1. New Investigations:
* An Alleged Scam and the Head of Bangladesh's SEC
* Uncovering a Georgian MP's Undeclared Assets
2. Stories from the OCCRP Network: Ukraine / Hungary / Nigeria
3. Corruption News
4. Organized Crime News
5. OCCRP Events
** NEW INVESTIGATIONS
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🇧🇩 Chairman of Bangladesh’s Securities Regulator Got Payments From Bank Accounts Used for Alleged $13-Million Fraud
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After losing more than $13 million to an alleged scam, the Hong Kong company Ming Global commissioned private investigators to look into the matter.
The probe led them to convicted fraudster Javeed Matin, who investigators say helped launder the funds taken from Ming Global.
They also found that bank accounts used in the alleged fraud had sent payments to Matin’s longtime friend...
...Shibli Rubayat ul Islam, the chairman of Bangladesh’s capital markets regulator.
🌐 The Big Picture: Rubayat ul Islam has become the face of Bangladesh's push for foreign investment. But the global investor community was likely unaware, until now, that he has been accused of receiving funds from accounts linked to a massive fraud scheme.
>> Read the full story ([link removed])
🇬🇪 Millionaire Politician’s Undeclared Dubai Properties Expose Gaps in Georgia’s Asset Reporting System
[link removed]
Leaked records show that Anton Obolashvili, an MP in Georgia’s ruling party, failed to declare two luxury apartments in Dubai worth a combined $1.2M — a violation of Georgian law.
Obolashvili attributed the omission to “human error” and has promised to include the properties in next year’s declaration.
🌐 The Big Picture: Obolashvili is hardly the only Georgian public official to violate this law. Over half of the declarations that the Civil Service Bureau reviewed last year had missing or incorrectly listed assets, according to Transparency International ([link removed]) .
There is little deterrent to submitting an incomplete declaration. The maximum penalty is a fine of 20 percent of the official’s monthly salary, or a minimum fine of 500 Georgian Lari — about $195.
>> Read the full story ([link removed])
** THE OCCRP NETWORK
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🇺🇦 Kyiv Independent: Our Ukrainian member center reports on why the military is facing acute shortages ([link removed]) of ammunition. One reason is that EU governments and their weapons industries have been hesitant to take on the financial risks of ramping up arms production.
🇭🇺 Atlatszo: Our Hungarian member center compiled a list of the 100 richest Hungarians ([link removed]) , whose wealth has increased twelvefold since 2002, when Atlatszo first started tracking them.
🇳🇬 Premium Times: Our Nigerian member center explains how the murder of a prominent Cameroonian journalist ([link removed]) has chilled public scrutiny of the current government.
Join the fight against corruption.
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** CORRUPTION NEWS
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🇪🇺 European Union: In its annual report on citizens’ attitudes ([link removed]) towards corruption, the bloc found that 70 percent of respondents believe corruption is prevalent in their respective countries. Greek citizens topped the list at 90 percent, whereas only 13 percent of Finnish respondents said corruption was endemic in their government.
🇭🇳 Honduras: The UN is evaluating the feasibility of establishing ([link removed]) an “international, impartial, independent and autonomous mechanism” against corruption in the country. Honduran authorities said they would cooperate with the UN initiative.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom: The Labour Party willsupport a global anti-corruption court ([link removed]) , according to its shadow foreign secretary, who said he’s “determined to clean up the London laundromat.”
🇷🇸 Serbia: The United States sanctioned the head of Serbia's intelligence agency ([link removed]) , Aleksandar Vulin, for his alleged role in “transnational organized crime, illegal narcotics operations, and the misuse of public office.” Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić claimed his ally was being sanctioned because of his close ties with Russia.
** ORGANIZED CRIME NEWS
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🇵🇭 The Philippines: Filipino and Australian authoritiesrescued 16 victims of child abuse ([link removed]) , in what is believed to be a record for a single police operation.
🇧🇷 Brazil: Federal authorities announced thelaunch of "Operation Vanglória" ([link removed]) to investigate the laundering of illegally mined gold from neighboring Guyana through shell companies.
** OCCRP EVENTS
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Russia’s Alpine Assets: OCCRP Publisher Drew Sullivan will testify at a U.S. Helsinki Commission hearing that will examine Switzerland’s role in laundering Russian money and facilitating sanctions evasion.
🗓️ July 18, 2023
⏰ 1:00 p.m. EDT
The hearing will be live streamed here ([link removed]) .
Revealing and Reining in the Professional Enablers of Corruption: Did you miss the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium’s recent workshop ([link removed]) ? Leaders from civil society, government, investigative journalism, and the private sector discussed forward-looking strategies to reduce enabling behavior and unlock greater accountability.
You can watch it here ([link removed]) .
P.S. Thank you for reading the OCCRP newsletter. Feel free to reply with any feedback.
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