Petar Panic, also known as “Pana,” is a one-eyed Serbian mobster with a rich criminal history and friends in the right places.
Panic once served as a bodyguard for Vojislav Seselj, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party, who was recently convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for crimes against humanity.
A new investigation by KRIK, a partner of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) shows the extent of Panic’s ties to Serbia’s powerful and controversial Minister of Health, Zlatibor Loncar.
Credit: Edin Pasovic, OCCRP
Read more: How Serbia’s Health Minister Helped a Criminal Avoid Trial
Dr. Mirjalal Kazimi, a liver transplant specialist, is famous in Azerbaijan.
Patients start gathering outside his office at the Central Hospital of Oilmen in the country’s capital, Baku, before 10 am.
Dr. Mirjalal Kazimi, an Azerbaijani doctor who specializes in transplant operations. Both of his patients in Georgia died one week after surgery. (Photo credit is anonymous for Azerbaijani reporters’ security)
Read more: Fatal Liver Transplants in Georgia Were Rush Jobs
Dubai has transformed itself into an extravagant metropolis where the police drive Lamborghinis and edible gold ice cream costs US $800 a scoop. But this success story is inextricably linked with the globalization of organized crime and corruption.
Read more: Dubai’s Golden Sands
Since marrying one of the seven daughters of the president of Tajikistan, a young businessman has built an empire that stretches across the country. An OCCRP investigation show how unlimited political power leads to business success in one of Central Asia's poorest countries.
Tajikistan: Money by Marriage. Credit: Sulton
Read more: Tajikistan: Money by Marriage
It’s known as “Venice outside Moscow.”
Located in the Odintsovo district about 20 kilometers from the busy rush of Russia’s capital, Millennium Park is a peaceful resort of luxurious dachas and opulent mansions, all interconnected by a network of man-made waterways and pedestrian paths. Many of Russia’s elite have made this village, advertised as resembling Europe, their home.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila arrive at Rostock-Laage for the 2007 G8 summit. Credit: Reuters / Stephen Hird
Read more: Putin’s Ex-Wife Likely Paid Millions for Land Near Moscow
A purportedly private Azerbaijani organization paid over a million and a half dollars to a US firm to lobby for the country in Washington. That organization was secretly funded by the Azerbaijani Laundromat.
Read more: US Lobbying Firm Launders Azerbaijan’s Reputation — And Gets “Laundromat” Cash
A quarter-million dollars from the Azerbaijani Laundromat went to a US energy consultant of Azerbaijani origin who, for years, has lobbied in the interests of his native country in the halls of Congress.
Read more: Baku’s Man in America
Rich people moving to Hungary had to buy a €300,000 government bond from mysterious offshore companies that made a good profit on the deal. The politicians who set those companies up broke all kinds of rules.
Read more: The Strange Evolution of Hungary’s Golden Visa Program
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
Read more: Slovak Police Must Return Reporter’s Seized Phone Immediately
Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis is threatening those who carry the future in their bellies. Pregnant women are going without adequate food or medical attention in the midst of a national economic emergency. The government insists on attributing the crisis to an external plot to overthrow it, while the opposition blames the administration for inefficiency and corruption.
Photo by: Adriana Fernandez Loureiro / Efecto Cocuyo
Read more: Birth and Death in Venezuela's Time of Hunger
