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Greetings from Amsterdam,
Welcome to OCCRP Weekly, where we will be covering a suspicious donation to the U.K. Conservative party, possible links between a wildfire in Greece and one of Kazakhstan’s richest men, and some unwelcome news for people who do business in Monaco and Venezuela.
But first, we wanted to thank everyone who attended our webinar yesterday about the 'Ndrangheta mafia. Members of our Accomplice program will receive a recording of the discussion by Monday.
Here’s the latest in global crime and corruption:
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NEW INVESTIGATIONS
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UK Tories Received Donation from Company Linked to Conservative Baroness’s Scandal-Hit Husband
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The United Kingdom’s Conservative Party accepted a £50,000 donation in 2020 from a company that we reveal is linked to businessman Doug Barrowman, the husband of Baroness Michelle Mone.
💁 Who is Michelle Mone? The founder of the lingerie brand Ultimo was appointed to the House of Lords by former PM David Cameron in 2015. More recently, Mone and her husband have been making headlines for their alleged role in a pandemic-era scandal 👇
💁 Why This Donation Matters: The 50,000 pound contribution was made several months after the Conservative government awarded COVID-19 PPE contracts worth roughly £200 million to a different company that Barrowman secretly owned. It later emerged that some of the equipment this firm provided was unusable.
In 2021, U.K. authorities launched an investigation into the contracts. After numerous denials, Mone and Barrowman admitted involvement in the PPE company but denied any wrongdoing. Barrowman did not respond to questions about whether he is connected to the firm behind the 50,000-pound donation.
🤔 Our Data & Sources: This investigation is primarily based on corporate records and court documents from the United Kingdom.
>> Read the full story ([link removed])
⚡︎ OCCRP Has Impact: The investigation has prompted calls ([link removed]) to strengthen the U.K.’s party financing laws. The Conservatives, who face a general election on July 4, have been accused of failing to close regulatory loopholes that have allowed foreign and untraceable money to seep into the country’s politics.
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** MORE OCCRP REPORTING
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Anger Erupts Around Wealthy Kazakh Yacht Guests Following Greek Island Blaze
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🔥🛥️ The Incident: Fireworks allegedly set off by passengers on a superyacht sparked a wildfire that burned through 300,000 square meters on the Greek island of Hydra last Friday. Greece is currently in the midst of an historic heatwave that has dramatically increased the risk of fires.
🇰🇿 What We Found, Part I: Seven prominent Kazakh nationals were on the yacht in question, according to a manifest obtained by journalists in the OCCRP network. Among them was Daniyar Abulgazin, one of Kazakhstan’s richest men.
✈️ What We Found, Part II: As the Greek crew members were being arrested, flight records show that a private jet regularly used by Abulgazin left the Athens airport and flew to Almaty, Kazakhstan.
🤔 Our Data & Sources: This story is primarily based on satellite data from adsbexchange.com ([link removed]) , the yacht’s manifest, and local sources in Greece.
>> Read the full story ([link removed])
** THE OCCRP NETWORK
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🇵🇬 Good News for Inside PNG: Sincha Dimara, an editor at our Papua New Guinean member center, was awarded the “Journalists of Courage and Impact” prize ([link removed]) by the East-West Center.
Dimara was suspended and subsequently fired from Papua New Guinea’s largest TV station after she began investigating a controversial businessman and an accused drug dealer living in the country. Last year, she helped found Inside PNG, one of the only independent investigative outlets in the Pacific country.
🇭🇺 Bad News for Atlatszo: Viktor Orban’s government continues to go after our Hungarian member center. This week, the Office of Sovereignty Protection launched an investigation into the outlet for receiving funding from abroad. Rights groups ([link removed]) denounced the agency’s investigations, which also targeted the Hungarian branch of Transparency International, as an effort to stifle press freedom and civil society.
🇧🇾 Belarusian Investigative Center: A journalist from our Belarusian member center spoke with the Global Investigative Journalism Network ([link removed]) about how she obtains trade data and government records from Belarus despite increasing levels of government repression.
🎙️ A Podcast with OCCRP: Senior Investigative Journalist Tom Stocks joined a podcast hosted by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) ([link removed]) to explain why trusts are often used to hide the wealth of sanctioned individuals.
** MONEY LAUNDERING NEWS
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#DubaiUnlocked Has Impact: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering watchdog, said that it will review findings ([link removed]) from our recent investigative series Dubai Unlocked when assessing the United Arab Emirates’ efforts to combat money laundering. FATF removed the UAE from its “gray list” of countries at risk of illicit money flows in February in a decision criticized by several Western lawmakers and anti-corruption advocates.
What is Dubai Unlocked?: In May, OCCRP and partners revealed scores of convicted criminals, fugitives, political figures accused of corruption, and sanctioned individuals who secretly own property in the emirate. You can read all of our Dubai Unlocked stories here ([link removed]) .
What’s the ‘Gray List?’: Global financial institutions are more likely to scrutinize money flows involving countries on the FATF’s so-called gray list, officially known as the “jurisdictions under increased monitoring.”
FATF can add or remove jurisdictions from the list depending on the state of their anti-money laundering (AML) policies. If a gray-listed country’s AML standards deteriorate even further, they may be downgraded to the "black list."
Fresh Batch of Gray-Listed Nations: Monaco and Venezuela were added ([link removed]) to the gray list today for failing to meet the FATF’s AML requirements.
FATF pointed to Monaco’s sluggishness in prosecuting financial crimes and seizing criminal assets held abroad as some of the reasons for its gray listing. Venezuela had previously been flagged for the risks associated with its expansive informal economy and close ties to Iran, which is one of the three jurisdictions on the FATF’s black list.
P.S. Thank you for reading the OCCRP newsletter. Feel free to reply with any feedback.
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