A €230 billion money laundering scandal put Danske Bank ahead of a record 22 other contenders to win the 2019 Corrupt Actor of the Year award from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
A globe-spanning panel of nine experts on organized crime, corruption and terrorism will select the 2018 Person of the Year in Organized Crime and Corruption for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
RISE Project, an award-winning investigative journalism outlet in Romania and OCCRP’s partner, was ordered Thursday by the Romanian Data Protection Authority (ANSPDCP) to reveal its sources under the threat of a fine of up to €20 million based on the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) directive 679/2016.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) enthusiastically welcomes a promising new partnership with Luminate, the global philanthropic organization focused on empowering people and institutions to work together to build just and fair societies. Luminate’s investment of up to $800,000 over two years comes at a pivotal time for OCCRP as we work to expand our investigative reporting globally and bolster our in-house tech tools and organizational capacity. This critical core support will help OCCRP to strengthen the platform of editorial, technical, legal, and security services we provide to our network of 45 member centers around the world and to advance our wider mission of building greater accountability by exposing the abuse of power at the expense of the people.
Photo: Luminate
“Funding for investigative reporting and its global development is vital to both journalism and democracy. We thank Luminate for their support and look forward to working together as we take the next step,” said OCCRP Editor-in-Chief Drew Sullivan. “Corrupt officials and the globalized criminal services industry have tens of billions of dollars at their disposal. Those working to turn the tables operate on much less. We must all be smarter, more committed, and more innovative in our efforts to make a difference and this kind of core support helps OCCRP to do that at a critical time.”
“Today’s world needs journalistic watchdogs that transcend borders to expose organized crime and corruption and to hold those in power to account,” said Nishant Lalwani, Director at Luminate. “OCCRP has proven to be especially effective at bringing analytical power to detecting corruption and crime patterns not easily visible to the human eye. We’re excited to see OCCRP grow as an organization capable of supporting an increasingly global network and independent media at a time of unrelenting threats.”
Formerly the Government & Citizen Engagement initiative at Omidyar Network, Luminate launched this month as a global philanthropic organization whose investees and grantees deliver impact in four critical and connected areas that underpin strong societies – Civic Empowerment, Data & Digital Rights, Financial Transparency and Independent Media. The focus of Luminate’s work on independent media is to support and defend a vibrant, free press that uncovers the truth and holds power to account.
Luminate was established in October 2018 by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay and is part of The Omidyar Group.
For more information please contact Stella Roque, Chief Communications Officer at stella@occrp.org
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) deems copyright reform necessary for meeting the demands of the digital age and to ensure publishers can more effectively protect their content online. But the proposed Articles 11 and 13 of the current draft of the Copyright Directive, to be voted on by the European Parliament (EP) tomorrow, could significantly harm independent media – and investigative journalism.
Photo by: Marten Bjork, Unsplash
Stockholm School of Economics The OCCRP is partnering up with the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE Riga) Center for Media Studies to present the Journalism for Future Challenges program again this year.
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
The journalists of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) face grave dangers and increasingly difficult challenges in their efforts to expose high-level corruption and government links to organized crime.
As an independent investigative journalism outlet and media development organization, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) relies heavily on copyright to guarantee correct attribution of our work. This is vital to our journalism and investigative research.
Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) urges support for independent media in Hungary amid mounting threats to media freedom in Europe. OCCRP expresses a deep and growing concern for challenges journalists are facing in countries that call themselves democracies: from smear campaigns to the murder of journalists on European soil.
Photo by Seth Fogelman on Unsplash
The Swedish Foundation Grävfonden announced its first scholarship program today, funding a one to three month internship with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
Erik Palm, Grävfonden