THE OCCRP NETWORK

🇮🇹 IrpiMedia: Our Italian member center reports on how Albanian crime groups have gained a foothold in Rome’s drug trade.

🇧🇬 Bird.Bg: Several journalists and pro-democracy activists in Bulgaria, including the founder of our Bulgarian member center, say that their Facebook accounts are being repeatedly suspended on frivolous grounds. 

• Bird.bg has begun to investigate the third-party service that moderates Bulgarian-language Facebook posts. 

🇳🇬 Premium Times: Our Nigerian member center reports that the central bank will sanction any bank that hoards new currency notes issued as part of a controversial plan to replace high-value naira notes. 

• The Premium Times has published multiple stories about Nigeria’s central bank, including its governor, who reportedly left the country amid rumors that the state security service wanted to apprehend him on several charges, including terrorism financing. 

🇿🇦 Mail & Guardian: Our South African member center reports on mounting litigation against Eskom, the state-owned electricity company at the center of numerous corruption scandals related to the country’s energy shortage.

OCCRP HAS IMPACT

🇽🇰 Kosovo: Kosovan prosecutors are investigating former ambassador Akan Ismaili, who we revealed had secret Swiss bank accounts worth millions of dollars.

🇵🇼 Palau: The Pacific Island nation is signing a new pact with the United States, which will gain more military rights in the country in exchange for substantial aid.

In a discussion with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian international affairs professor Graeme Smith cited our recent investigation on Palau’s growing role as a pawn in the U.S.-China rivalry. 

THE CORRUPT PERSON OF THE YEAR

🦹 The Growing Power of “Putin’s Chef” — Yevgeny Prigozhin, the winner of OCCRP’s 2022 Person of the Year in Organized Crime and Corruption award, has reportedly developed a rivalry with the Russian military, which he says operates separately from his mercenary group in Ukraine.

Louise Shelley, one of the judges who selects the award, spoke with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation about the man known as “Putin’s Chef.”

MORE CORRUPTION NEWS

🇰🇿 Kazakhstan: "The era of Nazarbayev is officially over." Kazakhstan's long-time authoritarian ruler could face investigations after parliament scrapped a law protecting him from legal probes.

🇺🇸 United States: A former city councilmember in Los Angeles has admitted that he extorted at least $1.5 million in bribes from real estate developers. The confession is part of a plea deal over racketeering and tax evasion charges.

MORE ORGANIZED CRIME NEWS

🇮🇹 Italy: After three decades of searching, Italian police arrested Matteo Messina Denaro, the alleged "boss of all bosses" of the Sicilian mafia.

🇨🇴 Colombia: Two more men were arrested on suspicion of carrying out the high-profile murder of Paraguayan anti-mafia prosecutor Marcelo Pecci while he was on his honeymoon.

AWARDS

#AllForJan: Investigative reporters in Central and Eastern Europe should apply for the Ján Kuciak Award, named after our Slovak colleague who was killed five years ago.