Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
| Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) |
|
|---|---|
|
|
| legal form | Non-profit organization |
| purpose | Unveiling of; Reporting on grievances, illegality or injustice (corruption, crime and money laundering) |
| Seat | Maryland , USA |
| founding | 2006 by Drew Sullivan, Paul Radu
|
| place | Sarajevo |
| executive Director | Paul Cristian Radu, Editor: Drew Sullivan |
| Members | see table |
| Organization type | NGO |
| Website | https://www.occrp.org |
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project ( Project for the collection and publication of organized crime and corruption ( OCCRP )) is a 2006 founded network of journalists organizations , which in turn are located in many different countries. The OCCRP is itself a subsidiary of the non-profit Journalism Development Network based in Maryland .
The focus of the OCCRP is investigative journalism in the areas of organized crime , corruption and money laundering . As a disclosure platform, OCCRP publishes its information on suspected and closed cases of corruption and organized crime on its own website in English and Russian.
history
The OCCRP was founded by veteran journalists Drew Sullivan and Paul Radu . Sullivan was editor of the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN) and Radu had just founded the Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism in Bucharest. The team worked with colleagues from the region on a report on energy traders. The project showed that dealers' purchasing power was below production rates while the public paid increasingly higher fees. In 2007 the project won the first Global Shining Light Award from the Global Investigative Journalism Network . Realizing the need for more cross-border investigation reports, Radu and Sullivan launched OCCRP on a grant from the United Nations Democracy Fund.
OCCRP was early to practice collaborative, cross-border investigative journalism by nonprofit journalist organizations, an approach that is gaining recognition in the United States and now in Europe. It is a partner of the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) in Jordan , Connectas in Colombia , the African Network of Investigative Reporting Centers in South Africa , InSight Crime in Colombia and the International Network of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington. It works with hundreds of news organizations including The Guardian , Financial Times , Le Soir , BBC , Time Magazine , Al Jazeera and other major media outlets.
Members
The parent organization is the Journalism Development Network, a non-profit organization based in Maryland, USA, which operates the organization on behalf of the member centers. The Romanian journalist Paul Cristian Radu is the managing director and the American Drew Sullivan is the editor of the project.
Remarks
- ↑ a b c d not represented in the OCCRP
-
↑ There are some groups and organizations in Germany that deal with investigative journalism :
- CORRECTIV - research for the non-profit company, Essen
- The Intelligence Initiative (INA) eV, University for Media, Communication and Economics , Cologne
- ANWALT.ORG : On the trail of the truth, VFR Verlag für Rechtsjournalismus GmbH Berlin
- investigativ.de Investigation and Reportage @welt, Axel Springer SE , Berlin
- Learn investigative journalism at the Axel Springer Academy , Berlin
-
↑ There are several groups and organizations in Switzerland that deal with investigative journalism :
- Public Eye , Zurich
- investigativ.ch The Swiss research network for journalists, investigative association, St. Gallen
- ↑ a b Not a network member, but worked with OCCRP on various projects in their region.
mission
The goal of the OCCRP is to convey to the people of the world how organized crime and corruption spread in their countries and in their governments. The organization does not belong to any country, political philosophy or belief except that all people should be allowed to choose their own governments and live their own lives in security, freedom and equal opportunities. The reporters and editors involved come from dozens of countries.
The mission statement of the OCCRP is: "Our world is increasingly polarized. The world's media channels are full of propaganda, misinformation and simply false information. We must all strive to understand how our increasingly complex society works. We must be able to being to find the truth in order to make the right kind of decisions we need. We are obliged in our little ways to convey the truth as best we can. "
OCCRP has grown to become one of the world's largest corruption and organized crime reporting organizations, initiating more than 60 cross-border investigations annually. More than 6 million readers and multipliers are informed on the websites of the OCCRP network every month , and 200 million other readers and viewers have access via conventional media that publish the OCCRP work. The growing impact of OCCRP stories shows that having enough people with the right information can make the right changes.
The organization trains reporters and partners in advanced journalistic techniques, develops practical and easy-to-use tools to improve reporting and publishing efficiency, and is actively reinventing investigative journalism to be more interactive, effective, informative and relevant to readers.
activities
Investigations
The project has been involved in a number of high-level investigations, including investigations into the offshore service industry, the ownership of organized crime in football clubs, casinos and the security industry. In 2013, it broke new ground in the Magnitsky case , the largest tax fraud in Russian history, and showed that the funds stolen from the Russian Ministry of Finance ended up in a company now owned by the son of the former Moscow Minister of Transport. Some of the money was used to buy luxury homes near Wall Street . US prosecutors have since attempted to seize $ 18 million in property from the company.
Working with Swedish television SVT and Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT) , it was found that the Swedish-Finnish telecommunications giant TeliaSonera (now Telia ), Vimpelcom and other telephone companies had paid bribes of approximately US $ 1 billion to companies operated by Gulnora Karimova , daughter of Uzbek President Islom Karimov , were controlled. Over $ 800 million in assets were seized or frozen by law enforcement agencies following the scandal. Vimpelcom fined $ 775 million for their share of the bribes. The story has won numerous international awards.
OCCRP worked on the Panama Papers project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Süddeutsche Zeitung and wrote more than 40 articles about corruption through the use of offshore companies, including, like friends around Russian President Vladimir Putin, large sums of money through offshore Companies received. The President of Azerbaijan , Ilham Aliyev , owned much of the mining industry in his country through offshore companies, and as President Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine violated Ukrainian law and taxation through dubious offshore companies had avoided.
OCCRP is investigating an assassination attempt on a Russian banker that led the Moldovan government to exclude the pro-Russian party Patria from the 2014 elections and the party leaders to flee the country. It was also about a massive money laundering system, the ' Russian laundromat ', which transferred tens of billions of dollars to Europe with offshore companies, fake loans and bribed Moldovan judges. Some of the Russian banks involved were in part owned by Igor Putin, a cousin of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
OCCRP's reports on the longtime President and Prime Minister of Montenegro , Milo Đukanović , led to street demonstrations, calls for resignation and demands that the European Union and NATO remove his membership applications and carefully examine them beforehand. Two series dealt with the close relationship between Đukanović and organized crime. One series followed the president's family-owned bank, Prva banka Crne Gore ( German Erste Bank Montenegro ) , and how the president cheaply privatized it through his brother. He transferred enormous government funds to the bank and then loaned the money to his family, friends and organized crime on favorable terms. When the bank failed under the weight of these bad loans, the president saved it with taxpayers' money. The central bank said the government had deliberately cheated about repaying the loans by simply shuffling the funds back and forth, claiming the loan had been repaid. A second series examined how the president maintained close relationships with international drug traffickers such as Darko Šarić through his staff , right up to the actions where communities controlled by the president's party transferred prime real estate to the wanted criminal almost free of charge. OCCRP also investigated how the Cosa Nostra smuggled cigarettes into Italy via an island off the coast of Montenegro owned by his good friend Stanko Subotić and controlled by his chief of security.
Drew Sullivan said that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte "mocked the rule of law in his country. While not a typical corrupt leader, he has promoted corruption in innovative ways. His death squads allegedly focused on criminals, but in fact, they are themselves." criminal. He promoted a bullying survival system of the toughest. In the end, the Philippines are more corrupt, cruel and less democratic. "
successes
Since 2009, the OCCRP reports have led to the following actions:
- State seizure, freezing and issuing of fines; totaling $ 5.2 billion
- Over 100 criminal investigations were initiated based on the reports.
- More than 100 calls for action have been submitted to competent institutions by civil or international bodies.
- 150 arrest warrants were issued.
- 20 layoffs, including a president, prime minister and CEOs of large international companies.
- A total of over 1,400 court decisions
Funding and partnerships
OCCRP is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), the United States Department of State, the Swiss Confederation , the Open Society Foundations (OSF), Jigsaw (formerly Google Ideas) and the Knight Foundation supports.
The OCCRP network also has projects and programs funded in part or in partnership with other organizations including the International Network of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Stockholm School of Commerce , InSight, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), Connectas and the African Network of Investigative Reporting Centers (ANCIR).
OCCRP is a registered name of the Journalism Development Network , a charity based in Maryland (501 (c) 3).
Awards and recognitions
OCCRP is one of the most award-winning media organizations in the non-profit media world. It was awarded the special prize for the European Press Prize 2015 for its work. The jury said: "The OCCRP is a memorably motivated, determined force for good wherever it operates. Its members do not get rich, but the societies they serve are richer and cleaner. Control can only be a true, independent one Provide journalism. "
In 2015 OCCRP was awarded the Tom Renner Prize for investigative reporters and editors for "The Khadija Project", an initiative to continue the work of the imprisoned OCCRP / RFE reporter Xədicə İsmayılova . It has been a finalist for the Daniel Pearl Award of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for outstanding international investigative reporting for three years . OCCRP was a 2010 finalist for its illegal document trafficking project. OCCRP won the 2011 Daniel Pearl Award for its "Offshore Crime, Inc." project, a series of stories documenting the offshore tax havens , the criminals who use them and millions of dollars in lost tax money. OCCRP was also a finalist in 2013 for its story about an international money laundering ring called Proxy Platform . It won the 2008 Global Shining Light Award for Forced Investigative Reporting for its series on the energy traders. OCCRP was a two-time finalist for the same award in 2013 for its stories about the first family of the Montenegrin bank, "First Family, First Bank". OCCRP won the award for its stories about the first Azerbaijani family to own large companies in this country. OCCRP worked with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on a tobacco smuggling project that won the Overseas Press Club Award and the Investigative Reporters and Editors Tom Renner Award for crime reporting, OCCRP won the 2013 SEEMO Prize from South East Europe Media organization with the Center for Investigative Reporting (Bosnia and Herzegovina) for its story about fraud in thermal power stations .
In 2017, NGO Advisor was ranked 69th worldwide in its annual list of the 500 best non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Intimidation attempts against OCCRP
Journalist Khadija Ismayilova
Xədicə Ismayilova ( English Khadija Ismayilova ), journalist of OCCRP and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty , based in Baku , Azerbaijan , goal was a spectacular dispute when she was blackmailed by unknown assailants who hid a video in her bedroom with a in the wall Camera. The camera was installed two days after a story posted by OCCRP / RFE / RL İsmayılova after reporting on the presidential family in Azerbaijan and secretly owning Azerfon (Nar Mobile) , a cell phone company with a monopoly 3G license was. She received a threat to show the videos if she doesn't stop working. She declined, and the videos were shown on at least two websites. İsmayılova complained that prosecutors did very little to identify the culprits, who were widely believed to be the Azerbaijani government. "
Following this incident, İsmayılova published articles showing that the first family also owned shares in six large gold fields and one of the construction companies that were building the new Crystal Hall auditorium in Baku, which hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 . She was arrested by prosecutors in December 2014 for allegedly inciting a fellow journalist to commit suicide by denying him the opportunity to return to work at Radio Free Europe despite not having a recruitment license. The journalist later withdrew his statements on his Facebook page and tried to flee to Moscow. İsmayılova's arrest has been criticized by dozens of governments, media and civil organizations around the world.
OCCRP launched the Khadija project, a reporting investigation, to continue the work of İsmayılova. Editor Drew Sullivan said when the project was initiated, if governments arrested one investigative reporter, twenty would take their place. They vowed to look at the political elite in Azerbaijan and how they materially benefited from their high positions. OCCRP conducted more than a dozen major researches, including some with the help of the Panama Papers . OCCRP found that the Azerbaijan First Family owns more than $ 140 million in luxury real estate in London, owns a large percentage of the luxury hotel and banking business in Baku, and over $ 1 billion in bribes from telecommunications companies and others Sellers received.
"Person of the Year"
Since 2012, OCCRP has been presenting the " Person of the Year " award , which recognizes "those who have done the most to promote organized crime and corruption around the world".
| year | Award winners | Other candidates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | İlham Əliyev (Ilham Aliyev) , President of Azerbaijan |  |
Naser Kelmendi, Milo Đukanović , Vladimir Putin , Miroslav Mišković , Islom Karimov , Darko Šarić |
| 2013 | The entire parliament of Romania |  |
Darko Šarić , Gulnara Karimova |
| 2014 | Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin , President of the Russian Federation |  |
Viktor Orbán , Milo Đukanović |
| 2015 | Milo Đukanović , Prime Minister of Montenegro |  |
First Family of Azerbaijan , Nikola Gruevski |
| 2016 | Nicolás Maduro , President of Venezuela | _cropped.jpg) |
Rodrigo Duterte , Baschar al-Assad , IS , Raúl Castro together with General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejas, Vladimir Putin |
| 2017 | Rodrigo Duterte , President of the Philippines | .jpg) |
Jacob Zuma , Robert Mugabe |
| 2018 |
Danske Bank honored for money laundering scandal (see also: Russian laundromat ) |
 |
Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban , Mohammed bin Salman , Donald Trump |
| 2019 | ? | ||
Web links
- Christian Mensch: Investigative large-scale research. : The blind spot of the new journalism networks. In: Switzerland at the weekend. Aargauer Zeitung, March 24, 2019, accessed on May 14, 2019 .
- Stephan Russ-Mohl: Unprofitable detectives of democracy. NZZ, May 6, 2017, accessed on May 14, 2019 .
- Marc Zitzmann: A role model for investigative journalism. Internet journalism is affordable. The online newspaper “Mediapart”, founded in 2008, proves this. It has become a bright spot and a beacon of investigative journalism in France. NZZ, January 13, 2015, accessed on May 14, 2019 .
- (pd / maw): Public Eye. Award for investigative journalism. Personal Verlags AG, Zurich , 2018, accessed on May 14, 2019 .
- 50 years of Public Eye. Public Eye, 2018, accessed on May 14, 2019 : "Based on the 1968" Declaration of Bern "manifesto, Public Eye is now a successful association with 25,000 members."
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b part of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), partner
- ↑ a b c d OCCRP: About Us. In: www.occrp.org. Retrieved May 14, 2019 (American English).
- ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Private security firms in the Balkans harbor corruption, observers say | DW | 06/19/2010. Retrieved May 12, 2019 (UK English).
- ↑ Violeta Fotache: Vîntu, cercetat alături de Kiss Laszlo, pentru o fraudă de 8 milioane de euro. jurnalul.ro, November 15, 2010, accessed May 12, 2019 (Romanian).
- ↑ Asasin în Lege. (Video) In: Rise Moldova. Retrieved May 12, 2019 (Romanian).
- ^ Moldova: Pro-Russia Party Banned from Elections After OCCRP Expose. Retrieved May 12, 2019 .
- ↑ a b OCCRP announces 2017 Organized Crime and Corruption 'Person of the Year' Awar. In: Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. OCCRP, 2017, accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ^ S. and James L. Knight Foundation
- ↑ European Press Prize 2015 Winners Announcement. PR Newswire, April 15, 2016, accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ↑ 2015 IRE Award winners. In: IRE. Retrieved May 12, 2019 (American English).
- ^ OCCRP. Retrieved May 12, 2019 .
- ^ Sasha Chavkin: Powerful cross-border stories on crime, corruption and public health are Daniel Pearl Awards finalists. ICIJ, September 12, 2013, accessed on May 14, 2019 .
- ^ Drew Sullivan: Memorandum submitted by Drew Sullivan. Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee of the House of Commons , January 2009, accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ↑ Gijn Staff: Global Shining Light Award Winners Announced. In: Global Investigative Journalism Conference 2013. October 15, 2013, accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ↑ Khadija Ismayilova: Azerbaijani President's Daughters Tied To Fast-Rising Telecoms Firm. In: RadioFreeEurope / RadioLiberty. June 27, 2011, accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ^ Valerie Hopkins: Azerbaijan Fails to Investigate Harassment of OCCRP Reporter. OCCRP, April 12, 2005, accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ^ Azerbaijan's President Awarded Family Stake in Gold Fields. OCCRP, May 12, 2003, accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ↑ Khadija Ismayilov: President's Family Benefits from Eurovision Hall. OCCRP, May 7, 2012, accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ^ The Khadija Project. OCCRP, 2016, accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ^ OCCRP announces 2013 Organized Crime and Corruption "Person of the Year". OCCRP, 2013, accessed May 14, 2019 .
- ↑ OCCRP announces 2015 Organized Crime and Corruption 'Person of the Year' Award. OCCRP, 2015, accessed May 14, 2019 .
Remarks
- ^ OCCRP Person of the Year - Vladimir Putin. OCCRP, January 13, 2017, accessed on May 14, 2019 (English): “Putin has been a finalist every year so you might consider this a lifetime achievement award. He has been a real innovator in working with organized crime. He has created a military-industrial-political-criminal complex that furthers Russia's and Putin's personal interests. I think Putin sees those interests as one and the same. "
- ↑ DANSKE BANK. 2018 Corrupt Actor of the Year award from the Organized Crime and Corruption. OCCRP Staff, 2018, accessed on May 14, 2019 : “In Azerbaijan, Danske Bank was the conduit for bribes, parking stolen assets, and the theft of national resources for one of the most vindictive and corrupt regimes in the world. The corrupt Aliyev family couldn't have done this without the bank. "