OCCRP REPORTS

🇷🇺 Views From a Kleptocracy Tour: When Russia invaded Ukraine, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Kremlin-linked kleptocrats. But one year later, there’s been no progress on seizing their frozen assets.

Why? Tricky legal hurdles and an “army” of oligarch enablers.

OCCRP journalists went on a “kleptocracy tour” of London properties linked to allies of Vladimir Putin.
>> Here’s what they found.

🇸🇰 THE LEGACY OF OUR COLLEAGUE

This past Tuesday was the fifth anniversary of the murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak, who worked with OCCRP, and his fiancee Martina Kušnírová.

➡️ “The Killing of a Journalist'': A look behind the scenes of OCCRP’s documentary about Kuciak’s murder –– and the corruption that allowed the accused mastermind of the assassination to operate with impunity for years.

The film, “The Killing of a Journalist,” premiered in Slovakia this week, and should be available to stream by the end of this year. 


➡️ The Families: “We will always think of them. We go to the cemetery every day. It cannot be forgotten.”

The parents of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová spoke to OCCRP about their grief and their ongoing fight for justice. The businessman accused of organizing the assassination has so far evaded prosecution.

THE OCCRP NETWORK

🇿🇦 Mail & Guardian: Our South African member center reports on whether the finance ministry will inject more money into Eskom, the country’s notoriously poorly run energy provider, which has been embroiled in corruption scandals.

Eskom is experiencing a massive debt crisis that has led to electricity cuts around the country, pushing more and more residents to seek power from private companies. 


🇲🇰 IRL Macedonia: Our Macedonian member center’s documentary “Bad Blood” is up for the prestigious #AllForJan award, named after our Slovak colleague Ján Kuciak, who was murdered five years ago. 

The must-watch documentary exposes a hospital and a doctor who used an experimental treatment on COVID-19 patients allegedly without their consent.

OCCRP IN THE HEADLINES

🇫🇯 VICE Talks w/ OCCRP: Pacific Editor Aubrey Belford spoke with VICE about his team’s report on the Korean doomsday sect Grace Road Church, which has established an influential presence in Fiji with the help of the government.

🇧🇩 Bangladeshi Politician Lashes Out: After OCCRP exposed Bangladeshi MP Abdus Sobhan Miah’s secret New York City real estate portfolio, a human rights attorney called for a corruption investigation.

Now, Miah is suing the attorney for defamation. The lawsuit goes as far to claim, without any evidence, that OCCRP is linked to the country’s political opposition.

MORE CORRUPTION NEWS

🇺🇸 The United States will extradite former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo to his home country, where he is suspected of bribery linked to a major corruption scandal. 

🇲🇽 Genaro García Luna, once Mexico's security minister, was found guilty of taking millions of dollars from Mexico's biggest crime group, the Sinaloa drug cartel.

García Luna is the highest-ranking Mexican official ever to be tried in the U.S., where he moved after leaving office.

🇮🇳 India’s largest news agency, Asian News International (ANI), routinely bases articles on dubious think tanks and seemingly non-existent authors, according to a report from the non-profit EU DisinfoLab.

ANI has published hundreds of articles relying on fake sources that further the agenda of the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

MORE ORGANIZED CRIME NEWS

🇧🇦 Bosnian authorities have uncovered a fake university diploma ring that sold fraudulent certificates for more than $30,000 each.

🇰🇵 North Korean hackers stole $1.7 billion of cryptocurrency last year, some of which may be financing the nation’s army.