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1. New OCCRP Report
* U.S. and U.K. Assets Linked to Lebanon's Ex-Central Bank Chief
2. The OCCRP Network:
* Nigeria: Meet the Incoming Gov't
* Netherlands: Gifts for MEPs
* Egypt: Revolution Activist Freed
* South Africa: Seized Ivory Slips Back to Black Market
3. Follow The Money News
* USA: New York to Implement a UBO Registry 💪
* UK: PayPal Pauses Crypto Services
4. Press Freedom News
* Russia: Exiled Journalists Suspect Being Poisoned
* China: Publisher Arrested After Reporting on Alleged Corruption
5. Corruption News
* Guatemala: Anti-Graft Presidential Candidate Wins
* Malaysia: PM Says Goldman Sachs to Pay More
* Ukraine: Learning from Afghanistan When Allocating Aide
* Austria: Ex-Chancellor Charged
* Colombia: Execs Charged in U.S. for Mega-Highway Deal
6. Organized Crime News
* USA: Prison Empire Gang Dismantled
7. Events and Awards
* European Forum Alpbach
* OCCRP Wins OJA Awards!
** NEW INVESTIGATIONS
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New Sanctions on Lebanon’s Former Central Bank Governor Likely Bring Frozen Assets to at Least $200 Million, Documents Show
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In 2020, as Lebanon’s economy was collapsing, OCCRP and Daraj uncovered evidence of what had long been rumored — the head of the central bank, Riad Salame, held a secret fortune overseas.
Several governments launched probes into Salame for alleged embezzlement and other abuses of office after our investigations were published. He resigned last month.
Who is Riad Salame? At the start of his tenure, Salame was portrayed as a financial guru who could help stabilize the Lebanese economy. More than twenty years later, many blame the former Merrill Lynch executive for the country’s economic crisis. >> Read More ([link removed])
Then last week, the U.S., U.K., and Canada jointly sanctioned Salame for allegedly diverting $300 million of the bank’s funds for personal gain. His son and personal assistant, both of whom were implicated in our investigations, were also among those targeted by the measures, which described revelations from OCCRP’s reporting.
This week, we tallied up all of the known Salame-linked assets — roughly $200 million worth — that should be frozen with the addition of the new sanctions.
That includes at least three apartments in Manhattan and extensive real estate holdings in the U.K.
>> Read the full story ([link removed])
** THE OCCRP NETWORK
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🇳🇬 Premium Times: Our Nigerian member center analyzessome of the leading figures in the country’s incoming government ([link removed]) , which includes ministers accused of corruption.
🇳🇱 Follow The Money: Our Dutch partner reveals that the European Parliament rarely punishes ([link removed]) MEPs who fail to disclose gifts and other potential conflicts of interest, despite its pledges to build stronger anti-corruption tools.
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🇱🇧 Daraj.Media: Our Lebanese member center reports on the release of Ahmed Douma ([link removed]) , an Egyptian pro-democracy activist who wasdetained in harsh conditions for ten years ([link removed]) for participating in anti-government protests.
🇿🇦 Oxpeckers: Our South African member center reports on how ivory and other wildlife contraband ([link removed]) seized by authorities can slip back into the black market.
Join the fight against corruption.
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** FOLLOW THE MONEY NEWS
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🇺🇸 United States: The state of New York is preparing to establish ([link removed]) a publicly accessible “ultimate beneficial ownership” (UBO) database next year. This comes as the federal government stalls in instituting a national UBO registry, which would be accessible by various authorities but not the general public.
* 🙌 Why This Matters: UBO information is key in the fight against corruption, yet making this data publicly accessible is a global challenge. >> Learn more ([link removed])
🇬🇧 United Kingdom: PayPal will pause services that allow U.K. customers ([link removed]) to buy cryptocurrencies on the platform. The move comes after the government implemented new rules on how crypto can be promoted.
** PRESS FREEDOM NEWS
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🇷🇺 Russia: Exiled Russian journalists Elena Kostyuchenko and Irina Babloyan suspect they were poisoned ([link removed]) after experiencing serious yet unexplained health issues that started last October.
🇨🇳 China: The founder of an independent outlet in the city of Huanggang was arrested on extortion charges after his website, the Hubei New Perspective Site, reported on alleged corruption involving a local official in Hubei province ([link removed]) . The Committee to Protect Journalists denounced the charges.
** CORRUPTION NEWS
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🇬🇹 Guatemala: Former diplomat Bernardo Arévalo won the country’s presidency ([link removed]) by running on a strong anti-corruption message. He was able to garner roughly 58 percent of the vote despite the ruling party's attempts to ban his candidacy.
🇲🇾 Malaysia: Malaysia’s new prime minister is considering filing additional lawsuits against Goldman Sachs ([link removed]) for its alleged role in the 1MDB corruption scandal, where roughly $4.5 billion was stolen from a Malaysian state fund. Goldman Sachs has already agreed to pay $3.9 billion to Malaysia to settle the accusations, but PM Anwar Ibrahim believes the U.S. bank should pay more.
🇺🇦 Ukraine: NPR spoke with a U.S. special inspector general about how officials can better ensure that U.S. military and humanitarian aid ([link removed]) is being properly spent in Ukraine by drawing on lessons learned in Afghanistan.
🇦🇹 Austria: Former chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been charged with making false statements ([link removed]) to a parliamentary inquiry about an alleged corrupt deal with a Russian investor. The 2019 scandal led to the collapse of Kurz’s first government, which was a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party.
🇨🇴 Colombia: Colombian conglomerate Grupo Aval and its bank subsidiary have agreed to payroughly $80 million to settle accusations ([link removed]) that they violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The companies were charged in the U.S. for paying millions of dollars to Colombian officials to secure a construction contract for a 328-mile highway.
** ORGANIZED CRIME NEWS
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🇺🇸 United States: Two dozen people pleaded guilty in the United States ([link removed]) for their role in a drug trafficking syndicate that operated out of prison. The group, known as Prison Empire, is believed to be the largest narcotics conspiracy in South Carolina.
** EVENTS & AWARDS
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➡️ EFA23: OCCRP Co-Founder Paul Radu is speaking at the democracy conference European Forum Alpbach ([link removed]) about the role of investigative journalism in the fight against corruption. Thursday, Aug 31, 2023 >>Tickets here ([link removed])
➡️ Online Journalism Awards
* Story Killers: This investigative project led by Forbidden Stories, which exposes the inner workings of global disinformation mercenaries, won the Excellence in Collaboration and Partners Award ([link removed]) .
* Banality of Brutality: Our reporters used Telegram messages and other visuals to show what life was like in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha during the Russian invasion. The story won the Excellence and Innovation in Visual Digital Storytelling award ([link removed]) .
P.S. Thank you for reading the OCCRP newsletter. Feel free to reply with any feedback.
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