Dear OCCRP Reader,

Today we named ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad as ”Person of the Year” in Organized Crime and Corruption.

Since 2012, OCCRP’s “Person of the Year” award has singled out those who do the most to wreak havoc around the world through organized crime and corruption. The winner is chosen by an expert panel of judges across civil society, academia, and journalism.

Assad’s regime was characterized by centralized control, suppression of dissent, and a reliance on a powerful security apparatus. His forces were accused of widespread human rights abuses, including torture, murder, the use of chemical weapons, mass detentions, and the targeting of civilians.

Financed by Captagon production and other forms of organized crime, such as human and cigarette smuggling, antiquities theft, and the arms trade, Assad’s regime earned billions of dollars to maintain his brutal authoritarian rule, while spreading violence, drugs, and criminality throughout the region.

In a first for the contest’s 13-year history, the judges have awarded a special “Lifetime Non-Achievement Award” to Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, one of the longest serving dictators in the world. After leading a coup in 1979 to seize power from his uncle, Obiang has mercilessly repressed any dissent with unlawful arrests, forced disappearances, and torture, while stealing much of the country’s wealth together with a ruling elite.

Both Assad and Obiang are examples of long-time dictatorial regimes, in which corruption plays a critical role.

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