Favoritism Shears Competitors in Georgian Sheep Industry

Beka Gonashvili's love for Georgian folk music led him into the sheep export business nearly a decade ago. But he’s singing a sad song now, claiming that government-connected companies have driven him out of what had been a lucrative market.

Herds of sheep in Georgia's mountainous Tusheti region. (Photo: Studio Monitor)

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Firm Linked to Putin Friend Smoothed Path for BP in Russia

If you want to do business in Moscow, it helps to hire a pal of President Vladimir Putin.

That’s the conclusion reached by investigators for Transparency International-Russia, who looked into one of the biggest deals in that country’s history: BP’s 2013 sale of its stake in Russia’s third-largest oil company to state-owned oil giant Rosneft for a hefty amount of Rosneft shares and $12.5 billion in cash.

A BP station in Moscow. (Photo: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)

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Cars, Connections, and Contracts in Putin’s Russia

The owners of the Avilon Automotive Group, a top Russian dealer in luxury vehicles that does substantial business with law enforcement agencies, have secret business connections with relatives of Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, his deputy, and a senior ex-official of the Investigative Committee, a top-level police agency.

The Avilon complex and the Avilon-Plaza building in Moscow (left), which contains a former office of Probusinessbank. (Photo: Pavel L Photo and Video / Shutterstock.com)

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Budget Is Big Loser in Georgian State Lottery

Six years ago, the young brother-in-law of Davit Kezerashvili, Georgia’s former (and now fugitive) Minister of Defense, gave his nation an unusual gift.

Sporadic lottery player David Pantsulaia, 65, buys a Georgian lottery ticket at a kiosk on Chavchavadze Avenue in Tbilisi. He says he dreams of winning the jackpot. (Photo: Tatuli Omiadze, iFact.ge)

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How the Camorra Went Global

“We’ve come here to kill you tonight. Perhaps you don’t get it? At the same time, we’ll also kill your son and your wife".

These chilling words, spoken by a man associated with Italy’s brutal Camorra mafia, were recorded in a car by a hidden police microphone. Antonio Righi -- known as Tonino the Blond -- was threatening a broker to whom he had given more than €200,000 on behalf of the mob.

(Photo: Cecilia Anesi)

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Serbian President’s Party Tied to Football Hooligans

The official photos of the May 31 inauguration of Aleksandar Vucic present an idyllic scene  --  for good reason.

Even as Serbia’s new president pledged to do his utmost to preserve “human and minorities’ rights and freedoms,” men outside the building were forcefully removing inconvenient protesters and journalists.

Young men assault anti-Vucic protesters during the new Serbian president's inauguration ceremony on May 31. (Photo: E-stock.us/Aleksandar Bačlija)

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Mafia Boss: “The State is Me.”

ROME, Italy - On a hot night in early July, the southern Italian region of Calabria woke to the roar of helicopters and the wail of police sirens.

Shrouded in darkness, more than a thousand policemen in full military gear swept the streets of 19 towns on the very toe of Italy’s boot, entering neighborhoods where they seldom go.

(Photo: Eneas De Troya, CC-BY 2.0)

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Romanian​ ​Politician Named in Scandal Hits Back at Journalists: “Peace is Over”

The Bucharest office of RISE Project, an Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) partner, underwent an unannounced inspection by the anti-fraud bureau of Romania’s National Fiscal Agency (ANAF) even as important Romanian politicians threatened the outlet in both public and private.

Officers from the Romanian Anti-Fraud Authority at the offices of RISE Project, OCCRP's Romanian partner, during a surprise inspection. (Photo: RISE Project)

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Watchdogs Cite Shortcuts, Accidents at Belarus Nuclear Plant Construction Site

The ongoing construction of Belarus’ first nuclear power plant has sparked a number of serious concerns in that country and in its neighbors, both over the plant’s ultimate safety and the secrecy with which it is being built.

The nuclear power plant under construction in Belarus (Photo: onliner.by; Maxim Tarnalitskiy).

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Emails Allegedly Belonging to Russian Lawyer Reveal Hidden Influence on Magnitsky Case Investigations

Corporate lawyer Andrei Pavlov is one of just a few dozen Russian citizens targeted for sanctions by the European Parliament (EP). He is neither a government official, nor a judge, nor a member of the secret services, nor a law enforcement officer. Nor is he a well-known figure even in his native country.

A Jan. 13, 2013 march against the "Law of Scoundrels," which forbade adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens, in Moscow. (Photo: Sergei Nekhlyudov, CC BY-SA 2.0)

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