A storied bank helped Eastern European bankers loot their own institutions.
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Odesa mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov denies links to his former colleagues from the city's notorious "Oil Mafia." But the purchase of a luxury property in London could indicate otherwise.
Oxford Street, central London. A few minutes’ walk away are a number of properties connected to members of Odesa’s “oil mafia.”
Read more: London Apartments Show Ongoing Ties of Odesa Mayor to Oil Mafia
In the 1990s, “Angert’s Gang” in Odesa, Ukraine, was a powerhouse of crime. It diverted fuel sales from the reliably corrupt Odesa Refinery, extorted local businessmen, and even arranged the murders of local enemies and politicians.
Mayor of Odesa, and former member of the "Oil Mafia," Gennadiy Trukhanov.
Over the last three years, two top families in Azerbaijan’s ruling elite used dozens of secret accounts in Malta’s private Pilatus Bank to transfer cash into Europe and funnel millions of dollars into investments in luxury property, hotels, and businesses.
The flag of Pilatus Bank flies from its offices in Whitehall Mansions in Ta’ Xbiex, Malta. Photo (c): REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi
Read more: Pilatus: A Private Bank for Azerbaijan’s Ruling Elite
Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali is living a life of luxury, flying business class and staying in sumptuous hotels. How he can afford it on his official salary is anyone’s guess.
Sinisa Mali, the current (and likely future) mayor of Belgrade, appears to have had a lucrative time in office. Photo by OCCRP. Some rights reserved.
Read more: A weekend in Rome with Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali
Before she was killed, Daphne Caruana Galizia was investigating Malta's citizenship for sale program. A new report shows the deep connections between profits from the passports and profits from the politicians.
A banner in the fields outside Bidnija, where investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered six months ago. Photo (c): Dan Kitwood
Read more: Murdered Maltese Journalist was Investigating Island’s Golden Visas
The assassination six months ago of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia sent shockwaves around the world.
A tribute to Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, murdered six months ago. Photo (c): Dan Kitwood
Six months ago, Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was brutally killed by a car bomb just meters from her home. The investigation into her killing is ongoing, but there is little doubt that she was murdered because of her work. With a brazen, unapologetic and uncompromising style, she denounced corruption, nepotism, clientelism, and all kinds of criminal behaviors in her tiny EU member state.
The Forbidden Stories, OCCRP
Sergei Skripal, the former Russian military intelligence agent who was poisoned in Britain, was not the first victim of the deadly toxin. Is it still out there?
The name “Novichok” is now widely-known after the poisoning of Sergey Skripal in Salisbury. It turns out that a substance from this group of chemicals was used to murder a banker in 1995. Could some of it have fallen into the hands of criminals? Photo by: Edin Pasovic / OCCRP
OCCRP and Slidstvo.Info have won the 2017 Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Medal, the “highest honor IRE can bestow for investigative reporting”, for their work on the investigative documentary Killing Pavel.
An alleged Russian “front man” for Equatorial Guinea’s kleptocratic ruling Obiang family counts two notable Ukrainian businessmen among his associates: One is a former security official who was once imprisoned for smuggling missiles to Iran; the other is an arms dealer with business interests throughout Ukraine’s civilian airports.
An Antonov 32-B plane, now in Equatorial Guinea colors, photographed in December 2012 at Kyiv’s Zhulyany airport. The plane was obtained for the country by Avia Star, a Panamanian company owned by Ukrainian businessman Roman Chelnokov. (Photo: Artem Batuzak)
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