December 6, 2024

Greetings From Amsterdam, 

In this edition of OCCRP Weekly, we’re taking a look at the demonstrations that have erupted in Georgia over the past week following the government’s decision to pause EU membership talks until 2028 — and the view from our member newsrooms covering the fallout.

The EU approved Georgia’s status as a candidate for membership in late 2023, years after the goal of joining the economic bloc was enshrined in the country’s constitution. But the governing Georgian Dream party has now halted steps towards the former Soviet country’s inclusion, sparking outrage among a population largely in favor of European integration. 

Security forces' response to protests has been heavy-handed. Tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets have dispersed crowds gathered in front of parliament. Human rights groups have spoken out against this use of force, and several Georgian diplomats have even resigned in protest at the violence. 

Reporters covering the anti-government protests on the ground have also been caught in the crossfire or actively targeted.

The Tbilisi-based Center for Media, Information and Social Studies reported at least eight journalists were injured and several arrested in front of the parliament on Monday alone. It has documented 70 incidents of violence against journalists as of yesterday — including some life-threatening injuries. Some have had reporting devices seized by police. Pro-government reporters have not escaped the impact: Two reporters from television channel Rustavi 2 were hospitalized after covering protests, while a reporter from Formula TV was on air when special forces officers struck him. 

The attacks are seen by some as part of a larger crackdown on free press and dissent. 

“Journalists documenting violations have become direct targets,” Mamuka Andguladze of the Media Advocacy Coalition told OCCRP. “What we are witnessing is authoritarian arbitrariness, where peaceful citizens are dispersed with excessive force…. Since the media is a cornerstone of democracy, it is subjected to immense pressure, threats, violence, and illegal detentions.”

Well over 200 people have been detained since the demonstrations began last Thursday; roughly 100 have been sent to court, with many being jailed for several days or fined. Lawyers have filed appeals with the Special Investigation Service on behalf of about sixty journalists who were injured, abused, detained or prevented from doing their jobs, a lawyer from The Media Ombudsman, a Georgia-based NGO, told OCCRP. No investigations have yet been opened. 

OCCRP’s regional editor for Georgia and Azerbaijan, Kelly Bloss, oversees five reporting fellows who are on the ground as part of three Georgian member newsrooms: Governance Monitoring Center (GMC), Studio Monitori and iFact. She is in constant contact with reporters about their physical and mental well-being.

“Every evening, I’m sending a message to the group that if someone gets arrested, please send me a message immediately — my phone will be on. It’s very stressful,” she said. “Sometimes I feel bad to ask them a question about a different story we’re working on that has nothing to do with the protests, because it’s what they care about right now. Important things are happening in their country.”

OCCRP fellow and investigative journalist Marika Dudunia said reporters at Studio Monitori are working around the clock. While one group of reporters is in the field filming, another is always at the office posting updates to the newsroom’s social media. 

But reporting is challenging: “It is very difficult to breathe when you’re surrounded by this gas,” Dudunia said of the tear gas. “And it’s very difficult to see anything, because your eyes hurt when they’re using the pepper spray.”

What’s more, four of Dudunia’s colleagues have been injured by police in the week of demonstrations, and one had her phone seized. She said the violence against journalists marks a significant change from past demonstrations. It leaves reporters on the ground worried about the future of their work. 

But both Dudunia and Bloss emphasized the importance of Georgian reporters’ documentation of the demonstrations. 

“We need to get the word out so people can know, actually, what’s happening,” said Bloss.

Read the full story  

Corruption News

As Romanians prepare to vote for their next president in a run-off this Sunday, the country’s constitutional court ruled that the first ballot round was free of fraud — allowing far-right candidate Călin Georgescu to remain a contender. 

His success has come as a surprise to many Romanians as he only polled between 3 and 5 percent just before the first round of voting on November 24.

Meanwhile, OCCRP’s Romanian member center, Context, has discovered that the online campaign Georgescu boasts as the key to his campaign was fueled by a network of bots, rather than real people. One expert told Context that the network was believed to be Russia-affiliated. 

Before the election, the 62-year-old reportedly lauded Romanian fascists and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and called Ukraine “an invented state.” Social media accounts with hundreds of thousands of bot-followers were at the ready to amplify his similarly controversial campaign messages, pushing them out to a wider audience. 

Some posts fabricated stories about him, including one portraying Georgescu as a whistleblower who uncovered a pedophile ring that the United Nations was allegedly covering for. Software developed to analyze social media revealed that many of these posts received thousands of “likes” and re-posts despite single-digit views — indicating bots were behind the activity. 

Georgescu’s social media campaign previously came under fire the week before the first election, when Romania’s Central Election Bureau requested that TikTok remove campaign posts that were not properly labelled as political campaign messages, which is required by Romanian law.

Read the full story  

Britain’s National Crime Agency announced its biggest money laundering bust in a decade this week, clamping down on a ring out of Moscow and Dubai responsible for cleaning billions in cryptocurrency and cash. The international investigation “Operation Destabilise” has been in the works since 2021, and led to the arrest of 84 people linked to the laundering scheme. 

Several alleged key figures in the ring have ties to the Russian financial sector, according to the NCA — and some were sanctioned by the U.S. on Wednesday. Two “criminal enterprises” operating from Moscow allegedly run the network: Russian-born Ukrainian George Rossi’s TGR group of companies, and Smart, owned by Russian national Ekaterina Zhdanova. (This isn’t the first time Zhdanova has been in the spotlight over illicit funds: She was sanctioned by the U.S. last year and separately arrested in a French laundering investigation.) 

The NCA said the two outfits exchanged “dirty crypto” that Russian ransomware groups had extorted from victims including U.K. hospitals, schools and local authorities with cash from other criminal gangs who needed to launder illicit funds. The Irish Kinahan gang, which was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 for trafficking drugs and firearms in the U.K. and beyond, was among the trading partners. Gangs in the U.K. then exchanged their crypto for cash, and paid for “multi-ton shipments” of cocaine from South America. 

Read the full story 

OCCRP Updates and Events

Last week, the Australian parliament passed a landmark amendment to include high-risk professions — real estate agents, lawyers, accountants, trust and company service providers, and dealers of precious stones — in its Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing law. Professionals in these industries will now be required to follow detailed customer vetting and report suspicious activity to Australia’s financial intelligence agency in an effort to curb laundering of dirty money into the country’s economy. The change in legislation brings the country in line with international standards set by G7’s Financial Action Task Force.

Don’t miss an opportunity to hear from OCCRP co-founders Drew Sullivan and Paul Radu as they discuss the role that organized crime and corruption play in the breakdown of democracy worldwide, and what we can expect in the year ahead. They’ll take questions during a live webinar conversation on December 10 at 11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET. You can join by making a donation of $25 or more. By making a donation, you gain access to this event and other webinars for one year. 

Join OCCRP at RightsCon2025. Our team will be at this premier summit on human rights in the digital age alongside the Global Forum for Media Development’s Journalism Cloud Alliance. Together, we’ll lead the session “Our solution to bridging cloud services and investigative journalism? Collective action,” and unpack cloud computing challenges faced by investigative reporters. Learn more and register today to join the conference in Taipei or online from February 24 to 27, 2025.

We’ll be back with more crime and corruption news next week.