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Greetings From Amsterdam,
Welcome back to the OCCRP newsletter, where you can learn about similarities between gangs who operate on street corners, corporate boardrooms, and halls of parliament.
This week’s edition starts with news about an exciting initiative we’ve been working on with the Gabo Foundation, a non-profit created by the Nobel laureate writer Gabriel García Márquez.
Together, we launched a project called “Floodlight: Fiction in the Public Interest,” which connects investigative journalists with screenplay writers and directors to help them adapt their extensive reporting into feature films.
Corruption thrives in obscurity and dies under public scrutiny. But public scrutiny is only possible if average citizens understand the financial schemes that facilitate the theft of public funds –– and how they can be dismantled. Projects like Floodlight are key in ensuring this critical information resonates with diverse audiences.
So, let us know which OCCRP investigation you think would make for a powerful film, and what actor might play one of our journalists.
Now, here’s the latest in organized crime and corruption:
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🇭🇷 A Payment to a Hitman
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In 2008, Croatian journalist Ivo Pukanić was assassinated after a motorbike packed with explosives detonated next to his car.
One of the assassins was paid 780,000 euros by a British Virgin Islands firm weeks before the murder, but Croatian prosecutors couldn’t figure out who was behind the mysterious company.
Now, leaked documents reveal the answer to this 15-year-old question. The firm’s owner was Ognian Bozarov, a Bulgarian businessman with alleged ties to the country’s intelligence service.
🌐 The Big Picture: This investigation underscores law enforcement’s struggles in working across borders, especially when corporate secrecy laws are involved. National prosecutors in Croatia hit a dead end once they encountered a payment coming from an opaque tax haven.
🤔 The Data & Sources: This investigation is primarily based on leaked documents from Cypriot corporate service providers, as well as records from Croatian and Montenegrin officials.
>> Read the full story
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🇾🇪 Holding Yemen’s Oil Polluters to Account
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OCCRP obtained an unpublished 2014 report commissioned by Yemen’s parliament that describes over 30 environmental violations carried out by oil and gas companies, including the Canadian firm Nexen before it was bought by China’s CNOOC.
The report was shelved after the country descended into civil war in 2014. But experts say Yemeni state-backed firms that continue to drill are carrying on many of the same harmful practices.
🌐 The Big Picture: Both private and state companies made billions of dollars in Yemen after oil was discovered in the country in the 1980s. But attempts to hold polluters to account have floundered amid war and the fracturing of political power. Residents near the oil fields –– some of whom were interviewed by OCCRP –– have paid the highest price for this mismanagement.
>> Read the full story
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🇩🇲 A Major Tory Donor Bought a Dominica Passport
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Indian businessman Gursamarjit Singh, who made millions in marketing and real estate, also holds citizenship in Dominica, which he purchased for roughly $100,000. Records show that Singh has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party.
>> Read the full story
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🛂 Dominica’s ‘Golden Passport’ Holders: We compiled profiles of all notable purchasers of Dominica citizenship, which grants holders visa-free travel to 130+ countries and territories, including the European Union. >> Browse the list here
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Join the fight against corruption.
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🇱🇹 Lithuania Acts on Abramovich Story: Lithuania’s interior minister announced last week that she’s advocating for legislation that would allow the government to revoke citizenship for naturalized citizens if they pose a national security threat. Lithuania gives passports to people with an ancestral connection to the Baltic state.
The announcement came in response to an investigation by OCCRP’s Lithuanian member center Siena, which revealed that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich may have used his children’s Lithuanian citizenship to protect his wealth from Western sanctions.
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🇭🇺 Direkt36: The Hungarian government denied allegations published in an investigation by our member center that the country has some of the highest rates of hospital infections in Europe. But weeks later, Direkt36 obtained and published a leaked memo indicating that the interior ministry was, in fact, aware of the problem.
🇷🇴 Context: Our Romanian member center launched its own newsletter about corruption in the country. You can subscribe here.
🇱🇧 Daraj: Our Lebanese member center published an analysis piece about why the United Nations hasn’t publicly criticized spyware companies even after their technology was used to surveil its own employees. The author speculates that the UN may be hesitant to speak out against governments like Saudi Arabia, which are major donors that have also purchased spyware.
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🇺🇸 Support for U.S. Crypto Regulations Stronger: Five more senators said they would back the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, a bill proposed by progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren one year ago that would impose stricter regulations on cryptocurrencies.
Advocates of cryptocurrencies say the bill violates privacy and freedom, as it would reduce anonymity around personal financial activity. Warren and her slowly growing group of supporters argue that digital assets should be subject to the same anti-money laundering and due diligence rules that govern the rest of the U.S. financial system.
🇪🇺 EU Cybersecurity Bill Gains Steam: The European Parliament passed the “Cyber Solidarity Act” last week, which will increase cooperation between member states around cyberattacks if ratified by the Council of Europe.
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🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Shortly after Azerbaijan detained six journalists who dared to report critically on the ruling regime, President Ilham Aliyev suddenly announced snap elections to be held in February.
The leader of an opposition party said the elections will likely pave the way for Aliyevto consolidate even more personal power.
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Our Azerbaijan Coverage: OCCRP is one of the few outlets that consistently investigates corruption within Azerbaijan and the Aliyev family. If you’re unfamiliar with our reporting on the Caucus state, start with this Pandora Papers story about how Aliyev’s family and friends amassed $700-million worth of London real estate.
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THE OCCRP 'DIRTY DEEDS' PODCAST
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How Did Venezuela's Oil Riches End Up in Swiss Banks?
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Leaked documents from Credit Suisse revealed that the massive Swiss bank had several problematic clients — including Venezuelans convicted of corruption.
In this episode of "Dirty Deeds," Nick Wallis interviews OCCRP editor Nathan Jaccard and Armando.Info Editor in Chief Valentina Lares about their Suisse Secrets story that showed how oil officials stashed their millions in Switzerland’s notoriously secretive banking sector.
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🇦🇫 Former Afghan Officials Sanctioned: The U.S. imposed sanctions on two former Afghan officials, who served in the government before U.S. forces withdrew and the Taliban re-established control.
The Treasury Department accuses a former member of parliament and his son, another former lawmaker, of profiting from non-competitive bids for U.S.-funded contracts.
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💳 ATM-Skimming News: The FBI said it helped Romanian authorities identify 48 suspected associates of the so-called Riviera Maya Gang, a group that made over $1 billion mainly from rigged cash machines in Mexico.
OCCRP, which gave the Riviera Maya Gang its name, exposed the group’s global reach and corrupt influence in this award-winning investigative series.
⛏ Gold-mining 'Dragons': Colombian and Brazilian authorities conducted a joint operation against illegal mining operations that use multi-story machines known as “dragons” to extract gold from the bottom of rivers in the Amazon. Dragons have played a key role in the destruction of the Puré and Pureté rivers.
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International Anti-Corruption Champions for 2023: Our Belarusian colleague Stanislau Ivashkevich was selected by the U.S. State Department as one of the 11 individuals and institutions that have done the most to promote transparency, accountability, integrity, and good governance worldwide.
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P.S. Thank you for reading the OCCRP newsletter. Feel free to reply with any feedback.
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