Greetings From Amsterdam,

This week’s newsletter begins with an update on our recent investigation into Steward Health Care, the Dallas-based company at the heart of Malta’s biggest-ever corruption scandal. 

Earlier this month, we uncovered how Steward paid over $7 million to private intelligence firms that spied on and smeared its critics. Executives at the healthcare firm prioritized paying these intelligence firms even as bills for critical medical services in its U.S. hospitals went unpaid. 

Steward’s financial woes culminated in the firm declaring bankruptcy this past May. But even being on the brink of insolvency did not stop Steward from paying large sums for private intelligence. 

Two months before Steward declared bankruptcy, it made six payments totalling $1.6 million to the U.K. intelligence firm Audere, according to filings from the case.

Revelations about Steward’s dubious spending habits will likely lead to questions in the United States, where it has failed to pay vendors, as well Malta, where it's involved in a corruption case that resulted in criminal charges against former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

OCCRP Weekly will continue to bring you updates about this growing scandal. Now, here’s the latest in global crime and corruption:

THE OCCRP NETWORK

🇦🇲 Hetq: The U.S. Justice Department has seized a Los Angeles mansion belonging to the family of Gagik Khachatryan, a former Armenian minister known for his wealth during his time in office. Prosecutors allege that the Khachatryans purchased the property, which was valued at $63.5 million in 2022, with bribe money. 

The Khachatryans' ties to the Hollywood mansion were first exposed by our Armenian member center in 2016, when the politically-exposed family was considering selling it.  

🇷🇸 KRIK: Powerful people in Serbia are increasingly filing spurious defamation lawsuits, known as “strategic lawsuits against public participation” ( SLAPPs), against journalists, according to a new report from Irene Khan, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression. Few media outlets have experienced this abuse of Serbia’s legal system more than our member center, which is currently grappling with 11 SLAPPs. The resources required to fight these frivolous suits, says Khan, has prevented KRIK from “informing the public about those who are trying to silence it.” 

🇷🇺 IStories: The Russian defense ministry has recruited thousands of prisoners to fight in Ukraine by promising them expunged records in exchange for less than a year of service. But the army, our Russian member center reports, has repeatedly reneged on this deal, threatening them into signing permanent military contracts instead of offering pardons. 

🇰🇪 The Elephant: Multiple global media outlets have cited the reporting of our Kenyan member center about the country’s historic anti-government protests. In this analysis, The Elephant argues that these “people-driven” demonstrations differ from Kenya’s previous uprisings, which were often led by civil society organizations and politicians.

OCCRP AWARDS

Covering Climate Now: Last year, our colleagues at Forbidden Stories started a reporting project to complete the work of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, who were murdered in 2022 while covering the destruction of the Amazon. 

OCCRP and 15 other outlets joined the effort to help uncover the hidden impacts of illegal fishing, mining, and ranching on the environment as well as local communities. The published work, known as the Bruno and Dom Project, won the Covering Climate Now Award for large projects and collaborations. “This project trumps it all,” one judge said. “Absolutely captivating.”

CORRUPTION NEWS

Spain: Prosecutors are seeking to impose a fine of 160 million euros against Spanish engineering company Duro Felguera S.A. for allegedly bribing Venezuelan officials in order to secure a contract to build a power plant southeast of Caracas. An indictment seen by OCCRP also shows that prosecutors are pursuing prison sentences for two former presidents of Duro Felguera as well as Nervis Villalobos, Venezuela’s former energy vice-minister.

Albania: Authorities arrested former Health Minister Ilir Beqaj over allegations that he misused EU funds to pay suspicious invoices worth hundreds of thousands of euros. Albania’s special prosecutor’s office is also investigating Beqaj in a separate case, where he’s accused of helping a politically connected company win a lucrative tender to sterilize surgical equipment.

Israel: A Jerusalem court ruled that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must testify in his corruption trial in December this year. The court case, which began in 2020, was postponed shortly after Hamas’s attack on October 7. Netanyahu’s legal defense has argued that the trial should be delayed even further so the prime minister can focus on the war effort. 

ORGANIZED CRIME NEWS

Brazil: Authorities detained eight people in an operation against drug traffickers who used private jets to transport large amounts of cocaine across South America, as well as to Europe and Africa. A police source told OCCRP that among those detained is a suspected gang leader, who has spent little time behind bars despite being arrested several times prior.