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Greetings From Amsterdam,
This week’s OCCRP newsletter starts with an update on a grim situation for journalists in Kyrgyzstan.
Once it was considered the most democratic country in Central Asia. But Kyrgyzstan's current government has done quite a bit to tarnish this image over the last three years, and these past few weeks have been no exception.
Ever since our colleagues at Temirov Live exposed a fortune tied to the family of a powerful Kyrgyz state security official, the newsroom’s reporters have been repeatedly targeted by the authorities. They’ve come under intrusive surveillance, and their founder — a Kyrgyz national with no other citizenship — was inexplicably deported.
Then 11 former and current reporters for Temirov Live were arrested. For over two weeks they’ve been sitting in jail cells awaiting trial under vague and spurious charges of “provoking mass riots.” One of the reporters had an appeal hearing on Wednesday, which was rejected. We expect the courts to hand the remaining ten journalists similar fates.
The state of press freedom in Kyrgyzstan has become so dire that it’s possible the government could effectively outlaw independent journalism altogether, similar to what has happened in Russia. In fact, Kyrgyz officials have proposed adopting some of the same techniques that Moscow has used to quash critical voices.
Some of OCCRP’s most impactful reporting has come out of Kyrgyzstan. We will continue to offer support to our Kyrgyz colleagues and keep you updated.
Now, for the latest in the fight against crime and corruption:
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🇵🇬 The Companies and Connections of the Businesswoman Charged in Meth Flight From PNG to Australia 🇦🇺
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Mei Lin is a power player in Papua New Guinea’s business community, with ties to influential locals, including a former deputy prime minister. But the China-born entrepreneur has recently experienced a fall from grace after Australian authorities charged her for being a key figure in a plot to fly 71 kilograms of methamphetamines to Australia in a light plane.
In this story, OCCRP and our media partner Inside PNG report on Lin’s international business interests as well as her curious — and possibly fraudulent — journey towards obtaining PNG citizenship.
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Political Ties: Reporters revealed that Lin held a senior role at Chatswood PNG, a company owned by ex-Deputy Prime Minister Moses Maladina that was contracted by the Australian government to care for asylum-seekers hoping to enter Australia. Australia’s controversial policy of sending asylum-seekers to PNG to await their hearing is known as “offshoring processing.”
Chatswood is now being investigated by Australian authorities for alleged misuse of government funding allocated for the care of such migrants. One of Lin’s companies, we revealed, is alleged to have played a role in this scandal.
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🌐 The Big Picture: Papua New Guinea’s natural resources and proximity to major markets have made the archipelago country a prime target of unscrupulous businesspeople, including organized crime figures. In this case, PNG was used as a launchpad into Australia, where narcotics go for a premium.
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More OCCRP PNG Coverage:
- Murdered Papua New Guinea Ports Official Benefitted From Suspect Offshore Payments >> Read More
- PNG Prime Minister Had Undisclosed Ties to Figure at Center of Ports Criminal Probe >> Read More
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🇦🇿 ‘Total Control’: Azerbaijan’s Jails Fill With Journalists and Dissidents as Election Approaches
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In December, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev announced snap elections to be held on February 7. The vote will be anything but competitive, as Aliyev has essentially purged the country of any organized political opposition. The government also recently jailed nearly every independent journalist working in the country, including those who’ve worked with OCCRP.
In this story, we explain what Aliyev’s latest crackdown means for Azeris — and why Western pressure may no longer help the country’s political prisoners as the strongman ruler looks elsewhere for allies.
>> Read the full story
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This story is part of The Baku Connection, a collaborative journalistic effort led by the Paris-based Forbidden Stories. As part of the project, a group of 15 media partners will follow up on the reporting of Abzas Media, an outlet that has had several journalists jailed since late 2023, to ensure the arrests do not put an end to their work.
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Join the fight against corruption.
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🇦🇿 Impact from #AzerbaijaniLaundromat Continues: German prosecutors brought corruption charges against two former lawmakers suspected of receiving bribes from what we call the Azerbaijani Laundromat.
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What is the Azerbaijani Laundromat? In 2017, OCCRP uncovered a $2.9 billion money laundering scheme used by Azerbaijan’s political elite to buy assets and influence overseas.
The global reach of the operation was extensive, but perhaps most shocking was how Azerbaijan used it to secretly pay members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for votes and speeches favorable to the regime of Ilham Aliyev.
PACE has some human rights-related responsibilities, including electing judges to the European Court of Human Rights.
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In their capacity as members of PACE, Axel Fischer and Eduard Lintner are accused of whitewashing Azerbaijan’s atrocious human rights record in exchange for payment.
In our 2017 investigation, we named Lintner and a third PACE member, Karin Strenz, as having benefited from the Azerbaijani Laundromat. Fischer was later identified by German prosecutors in 2021.
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🇺🇸 United States: The House of Representatives unanimously passed the PRESS Act, which will:
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Protect journalists from being forced to name their sources in federal court.
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Prevent federal agencies from spying on journalists by coercing technology companies, like telecom carriers and social media platforms, to hand over their data.
Nearly every state has its own version of a so-called “shield” law for journalists to prevent authorities from accessing their sensitive sources and documents. The PRESS Act would be the first time such protections were codified in federal law.
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🇺🇦 Ukraine: The outlet Ukrainska Pravda reports that an NGO founded by a prominent politician in the ruling party is among a network of organizations that has helped hundreds of Ukrainian men flee the country and avoid military conscription.
🇻🇬 British Virgin Islands: The British territory has a new president, who has promised to implement recommendations from a 2022 inquiry that found widespread corruption in the local government.
🇪🇺 Europe: Dublin and several other cities are competing to become the headquarters of the European Union’s new anti-money laundering authority, known as AMLA.
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🌎 Global: Transnational illicit activities generated over $3 trillion in 2023, according to a new report from Nasdaq.
🇪🇸 Spain: National police arrested employees of a funeral home for allegedly trafficking corpses to universities for unauthorized study. After the universities finished studying the cadavers, they would return them to the funeral home and pay for their cremations.
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🇰🇬 The Corrupt Ex-Official Exposed by OCCRP, Now Wanted: In 2019 and 2020, OCCRP and partners published multiple award-winning series exposing the corruption and political influence of former customs official Raimbek Matraimov.
Our stories were followed by protests by citizens calling for action against Matraimov, and the United States sanctioning him under the Global Magnitsky Act.
Now, Kyrgyz authorities have placed Matraimov on a wanted list for different reasons, which were vaguely articulated as “assisting to restrict an individual’s freedom of movement by forcible detention in the absence of signs of malfeasance.” No other details are currently available.
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P.S. Thank you for reading the OCCRP newsletter. Feel free to reply with any feedback.
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