Also, OCCRP welcomes new member centers from around the world.
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Greetings From Amsterdam,
The global reach of OCCRP grows even stronger. This week, 15 new member centers joined our network of investigative media outlets, including several from regions where OCCRP has not previously had a presence.
Member centers enable OCCRP to follow the money across borders and expose crime and corruption wherever it occurs. In the face of rising costs and growing threats to independent media, OCCRP provides member centers with critical resources and tools –– from editorial coordination to digital and physical security. Read more about the new member centers here. ([link removed])
Here's this edition of OCCRP Weekly:
** NEW INVESTIGATIONS
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** New Evidence Bolsters Allegations Adani Group Overcharged for Coal 🇮🇳
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💁 The Background: Not at all coal has the same value. High-quality coal, which is typically sought by power companies, is worth far more than lower-grade coal, which is less carbon dense.
Adani Group, one of India's largest conglomerates, has been previously investigated by authorities for allegedly selling low-grade coal at the rates of the high-grade product. This week’s OCCRP investigation brings fresh evidence to support these allegations.
💡 The Revelation: Documents obtained by OCCRP and shared with the Financial Times reveal information about at least 25 shipments of coal that landed in southern India between January and October 2014.
These coal shipments were originally priced as low-quality coal from Indonesia but were ultimately sold to the state’s power company by Adani Group for triple the cost.
What is Adani Group? Aside from being India’s largest importer and private producer of coal, the conglomerate also holds a commanding position in shipping, agriculture, solar energy, as well as other sectors. Its founder, Gautam Adani, is the third-richest man in the country and is widely perceived as being close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Adani Group was also rocked by scandal last year after it was accused of stock manipulation by a New York-based short seller. OCCRP published an investigation ([link removed]) that offered new insight into these allegations, which the Adani Group has denied.
🌐 Why This Matters: The alleged overpricing would not only burden ordinary Indians with inflated fuel costs. Burning lower quality coal also produces more pollution, a scourge responsible for more than 1.6 million deaths in India in 2019, according to a recent study published in the Lancet.
🤔 Our Data & Sources: This investigation is based on invoices and banking documents from several jurisdictions, details of investigations by India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), leaked documents from a key Indonesian coal supplier for Adani, and a trove of documents obtained from the Indian state-owned power company TANGEDCO (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation).
>> Read the full story ([link removed])
Join the Fight Against Corruption.
Support Investigative Journalism.
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** MORE DUBAI UNLOCKED
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Last week, OCCRP and 70+ other media outlets published an investigative series revealing alleged criminals and political elites who’ve secretly bought properties in Dubai. The project includes a database of notable people we found in the leaked data. You can browse the archive here ([link removed]) .
🇨🇾 Cyprus at Center of Sanctioned Afghan Politician’s International Business Empire 🇦🇫
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Two former Afghan parliamentarians sued the United States after the government sanctioned the duo for allegedly misappropriating U.S. aid intended to rebuild Afghanistan.
Their lawsuit inadvertently solved a mystery: It revealed that both continue to hold Cypriot citizenship, which they purchased as part of the country's now-defunct “golden passport” program.
Ajmal Rahmani used his Cypriot passport to help him buy real estate in Dubai and in Germany, collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
>> Read the full story ([link removed])
** 🇸🇬 Singapore Money Laundering Suspects Invested Huge Sums in Dubai Property
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Three people arrested in a raid on an alleged money laundering ring in Singapore invested over $30 million in Dubai real estate, leaked data reveals.
One of the suspects, who was wanted in China at the time, was behind a property broker that became a major sales agent for the city’s largest real estate developer, Emaar Properties PJSC. Emaar Properties is part-owned by Dubai’s ruler.
>> Read the full story ([link removed])
** OCCRP HAS IMPACT
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🇦🇲 Armenia: Like many post-Soviet countries, Armenia has privatized several state-owned assets as part of its shift towards a market-based economy. Some business people in the former USSR have been accused of taking advantage of this process for their own personal gain — Armenia being no exception.
Our member center, Hetq, published two investigations in 2015 and 2016 about dubious privatization deals that have resulted in real world impact close to a decade later.
* Armenia prohibits state monuments from being privatized. But in 2015, Hetq revealed ([link removed]) that a historic building in the capital, known as the AOKS building, was sold in a deal that involved people close to the cultural minister at the time. Their investigation prompted legal proceedings that came to a conclusion this month. AOKS was returned to the state based on an agreement ([link removed]) signed between the prosecutor's office and the owners.
* Former Cultural Minister Hasmik Poghosyan was also involved in a separate privatization deal, which allowed a complex to be built upon land previously owned by the state. Developers were required to make one floor of the complex into a public space dedicated to literary events as part of the privatization agreement. But Hetq found in 2016 ([link removed]) that this space was never built. In April, the prosecutor’s office announced ([link removed]) that the first floor of the complex, which could have been the home of the promised “World of Books,” would be returned to the state.
🇪🇸 Spain: Spanish authorities areinvestigating Gabriel Mbega Obiang Lima ([link removed]) , the son of Equatorial Guinea’s ruler, Teodoro Obiang.
Obiang Lima is accused of being involved in an alleged money laundering scheme that whitewashed millions of dollars of bribes from a Portuguese company that he awarded a construction contract in Equatorial Guinea. The scheme was exposed by OCCRP and partners in this 2021 investigation ([link removed]) .
** CRYPTO NEWS
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🇺🇸 The United States’ Attempt at Crypto Law: The cryptocurrency industry received two legislative victories in the past week. ([link removed])
On May 16, the U.S. Senate voted ([link removed]) to repeal a federal guideline known as SAB121, which requires banks to declare their crypto balances to the Security and Exchange Commission.
SEC vs. CFTC: Many crypto advocates do not want the government to treat digital assets as securities (like stocks), which are overseen by the SEC and face stricter regulations compared to commodities (like precious metals), which are overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Laws passed by congress supersede guidelines implemented by these agencies.
Then, on Wednesday, the U.S House passed a far more significant crypto law called the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century ([link removed]) , (FIT21), which formally delineates jurisdiction between the CFTC and SEC when it comes to digital assets, significantly expanding the authority of the former.
🌐 Why This Matters: FIT21 could be the first major crypto legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress. In the past, the government has deferred to federal agencies to implement their own rules under the auspices of the president.
Many Democrats, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, have supported strict crypto regulations, arguing that a lax environment will result in more financial crime and market manipulation. President Joseph Biden has also previously indicated that he would veto the repeal of SAB121, ([link removed]) arguing that SEC oversight is necessary to protect consumers from fraud and market instability.
The past week, however, has shown signs of shifting priorities in the Democratic party. SAB121 passed with bipartisan support in the Senate, while FIT21 passed with bipartisan support in the House.
As congress debates this issue, Super PACs backed by cryptocurrency companies have raised over $102 million ([link removed]) , according to a report from the U.S. consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen.
P.S. Thank you for reading the OCCRP newsletter. Feel free to reply with any feedback.
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