One of the strangest operations Valery Amelchenko took part in during his work for Prigozhin’s team was a month-long trip to Syria — to test poison on unsuspecting prisoners.

(Photo: REUTERS/Marko Djurica)

Three of President Putin’s top bodyguards appear to have been amply rewarded for their loyalty with some of Russia’s most valuable land.

Illustration: Natalya Yamshchikova

How Viktor Zolotov rose through the ranks, came to work for Putin, and met senior underworld figures in 1990s St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg. (Photo: Pixabay)

Dear Sirs,

We inform you that, since May 25th 2018, Romania enforces the UE Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and Council from April 27th 2016 regarding the protection of natural people from the processing of personal data and the free circulation of this data and the abrogation of the EU Directive 95/46/CE (General Data Protection Regulation - from here on called „GDPR”).

According to information published in the mass-media, on your Facebook account https://www.facebook.com/notes/rise-project/teleormanleaks/1937024593056150, were published personal data (documents, images - photos, video) of certain people (natural people).

Regarding those stated above, in the basis of Art. 57 and 58 of GDPR and Art. 14 and the following from the Law 102/2005, with the ulterior changes and addition, we request that you supply us with information concerning:

• The purpose and legal basis of publishing on the Internet (Facebook) of personal data, at the adress https://www.facebook.com/notes/rise-project/teleormanleaks/1937024593056150;
• The date/period of time when the said personal data was published on your Facebook account;
• The source from where the personal data published on Facebook was obtained;
• The support (electronic and/or physical) where you stored the documents/images published on Facebook;
• If the mobile storage devices (tablet, HDD, memory stick) were/are password protected or encrypted;
• If you have other information/documents containing personal data of the said people;
• If the personal data or documents that contain personal data of the said people were revealed in other circumstances - with the specification of these circumstances;
• The way in which you informed the said people, in conformity with Art. 13-14 of GDPR.

You will send us a complete answer within 10 days from this communication, accompanied by certified copies of proof documents.

We inform you that, in conformity with Art. 14 paragraph 2 of the Law no. 102/2005, with its ulterior changes and addition, „In case of non-compliance to the stated measures or in case of a tacit or direct refusal to provide all the information and documents requested during the investigation or in case of a refusal to submit to an investigation, the National Supervision Authority may impose, through a decision, a fine of up to 3.000 lei (approx. 644 Euro) for each day of delay, calculated since the date stated by the decision.”

Also, in conformity with Art. 83 paragraph (5) letter e) of GDPR, ”the failure to comply to an order or a temporary or definitive limitation of the processing, or the suspension of the data flux, issued by the Supervision Authority in conformity with Art. 58 paragraph 2, or not granting access, in violation of Article 58, paragraph 2” can be fined by up to 20.000.000 Euro.

The full text of the GDPR and also other useful information regarding its enforcement are available on the National Authority for the Supervision of Personal Data Processing website www.dataprotection.ro, under the section dedicated to the “New Regulation”.

Thank you.

George Bălăiți,

Chief Operators’ Control Service

Read original letter here.

Court records obtained by reporters yield some insight into Mihai Radulescu’s business methods back in Romania.

Mihai Radulescu bought all the apartments in this building in the heart of Bucharest. More than a dozen companies were registered at the address; almost all went into insolvency due to unpaid debts.

Romania’s former President Traian Basescu, now a senator, is a key figure in the legal defense strategy of his protégé, Elena Udrea.

Elena Udrea and former president Traian Basescu at a Popular Movement Party meeting in Constanta, Romania on May 2, 2014.

Damaso Ruiz Carrion is a notary who helped several prominent Romanian fugitives get their papers in order in Costa Rica.

Reporters for OCCRP and its partner organization, Semanario Universidad, found that he also rendered services to a high-level Colombian drug trafficker who married a Costa Rican and got Costa Rican citizenship.

Colombian navy sailors in a patrol boat, left, and Sailors and Coast Guardsmen from the littoral combat ship USS Freedom search for illicit drugs dumped overboard by the crew of a high-speed "go-fast" vessel. (Photo: US Navy)

Extradition is not a simple procedure in Costa Rica.  

The country has extradition treaties with countries like Colombia, the United States, and Spain.

(Photo: CC BY-SA 2.0)

Cameroon’s government is up in arms after our investigation into president Paul Biya’s extended “private trips” away from his own country. Here’s how we counted his days abroad and built our story.

A boy walks past a newspaper kiosk in the Wada district of Cameroon's capital of Yaounde, in the run-up to the presidential elections of October 2011. Photo (c): Reuters / Akintunde Akinleye

Serbia’s leading politicians are no strangers to being probed for their illicit wealth and shady financial dealings. Yet despite investigation after investigation by journalists and anti-corruption watchdogs (accompanied by page after page of evidence), the country’s prosecutors have shown a remarkable disinterest in taking action.

Man passes by Serbia’s high court in Belgrade, Serbia November 14, 2017. Photo (c): Reuters / Djordje Kojadinovic.