Moldovan banks are in a life-and-death struggle. Many have been involved in money laundering and asset thefts that have moved tens of billions of dollars from Russia to the West. Then when $1 billion disappeared from three Moldovan banks last year, the theft raised more questions than it answered and dealt a brutal blow to the economy.
Siniša Mali, the powerful mayor of the Serbian capital of Belgrade and a close associate and former advisor of current Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, prides himself on being a modern, progressive leader.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Euractiv and RISE Project spent months investigating who owns the Internet across Eastern Europe. In the coming weeks and months, we will release stories and data about the individuals and companies that control the technology that brings the internet to you.
Under President Islam Karimov, in power since 1989, Uzbekistan has boasted of steady economic growth based on exports like cotton, gas and gold. But the political system is highly authoritarian, and its human rights record widely decried.
Oil-rich Azerbaijan has redefined itself over the past two decades from a struggling newly independent state to a major regional energy player. It has also used its resources to rebuild its army, which is seen as a government priority as the country grapples with the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Seven years after a charismatic mobster was gunned down outside a Sarajevo apartment building, prosecutors think they know what happened that night and who was involved—a suspected drug trafficker and a former media mogul now running for president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Fahrudin Radoncic and Naser Kelmendi say it is all lies, but a star witness will testify at...
Call it the Laundromat. It’s a complex system for laundering more than $20 billion in Russian money stolen from the government by corrupt politicians or earned through organized crime activity. It was designed to not only move money from Russian shell companies into EU banks through Latvia, it had the added feature of getting corrupt or uncaring judges in Moldova to...
Three years ago, OCCRP exposed the “Russian Laundromat” - an immense financial fraud scheme that enabled vast sums to be pumped out of Russia. The money was laundered and moved into Europe and beyond through bribery and a clever exploitation of the Moldovan legal system.
What connects terrorists in Iraq, cleaning ladies in Ukraine, and dodgy businessmen in Turkey? Vegetables and tax fraud. A series of scams helped Al Qaeda and hurt Romanian tax officials to the tune of at least € 50 million.