Panama Papers: The Aftermath

Two years after the original Panama Papers leaks, the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung has received a fresh trove of leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca, the now-defunct Panamanian law firm.

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A Welcoming Caribbean Shore for High-Level Romanian Fugitives

They were once two of the most powerful women in Romania — a top government minister and a chief prosecutor.

But when they found themselves fugitives, convicted on corruption charges and facing years in prison, they chose the same escape: Costa Rica.

A house in Costa Rica belonging to Mihai Radulescu, a Romanian businessman who helped many of his fellow Romanians find refuge there. (Photo: Semanario Universidad)

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How Serbia’s Health Minister Helped a Criminal Avoid Trial

Petar Panic, also known as “Pana,” is a one-eyed Serbian mobster with a rich criminal history and friends in the right places.

Panic once served as a bodyguard for Vojislav Seselj, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party, who was recently convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for crimes against humanity.

A new investigation by KRIK, a partner of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) shows the extent of Panic’s ties to Serbia’s powerful and controversial Minister of Health, Zlatibor Loncar.

Credit: Edin Pasovic, OCCRP

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Fatal Liver Transplants in Georgia Were Rush Jobs

Dr. Mirjalal Kazimi, a liver transplant specialist, is famous in Azerbaijan.

Patients start gathering outside his office at the Central Hospital of Oilmen in the country’s capital, Baku, before 10 am.

Dr. Mirjalal Kazimi, an Azerbaijani doctor who specializes in transplant operations. Both of his patients in Georgia died one week after surgery. (Photo credit is anonymous for Azerbaijani reporters’ security)

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Dubai’s Golden Sands

Dubai has transformed itself into an extravagant metropolis where the police drive Lamborghinis and edible gold ice cream costs US $800 a scoop. But this success story is inextricably linked with the globalization of organized crime and corruption.

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Putin’s Ex-Wife Likely Paid Millions for Land Near Moscow

It’s known as “Venice outside Moscow.”

Located in the Odintsovo district about 20 kilometers from the busy rush of Russia’s capital, Millennium Park is a peaceful resort of luxurious dachas and opulent mansions, all interconnected by a network of man-made waterways and pedestrian paths. Many of Russia’s elite have made this village, advertised as resembling Europe, their home.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila arrive at Rostock-Laage for the 2007 G8 summit. Credit: Reuters / Stephen Hird

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US Lobbying Firm Launders Azerbaijan’s Reputation — And Gets “Laundromat” Cash

A purportedly private Azerbaijani organization paid over a million and a half dollars to a US firm to lobby for the country in Washington. That organization was secretly funded by the Azerbaijani Laundromat.

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Baku’s Man in America

A quarter-million dollars from the Azerbaijani Laundromat went to a US energy consultant of Azerbaijani origin who, for years, has lobbied in the interests of his native country in the halls of Congress.

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The Strange Evolution of Hungary’s Golden Visa Program

Rich people moving to Hungary had to buy a €300,000 government bond from mysterious offshore companies that made a good profit on the deal. The politicians who set those companies up broke all kinds of rules.

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Slovak Police Must Return Reporter’s Seized Phone Immediately

Yesterday, Slovakia’s National Crime Agency seized a mobile phone belonging to our partner, investigative reporter Pavla Holcova from the Czech Center for Investigative Reporting.

Czech investigative journalist Pavla Holcova. Credit: Aktuality.sk

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