Dec 10 2024
Mikhail Anishchanka, Lukashenko’s former personal chef, gained international attention in 2015 when French President François Hollande praised his cooking. Trained in elite Russian kitchens associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin—the late Wagner Group leader and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Today, he is a culinary celebrity in Belarus. The average salary in the country …
Dec 10 2024
Azerbaijan’s government has intensified its crackdown on independent media. Six journalists from Meydan TV, one of the country’s few remaining independent outlets, detained. Ministry of Interior Affairs claimed that Ramin Jabrayilzada [Deko], an independent reporter collaborating with Meyda TV, was at Baku airport on allegations of smuggling foreign currency. Authorities also detained five other journalists …
Dec 06 2024
Kwabena Duodu, a former accountant for a national children’s charity, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was convicted of 10 counts of cheating the public revenue and seven counts of furnishing false information. He spent part of the stolen funds on a 5-bedroom house. A third pastor received a suspended sentence for his …
Nov 29 2024
The November 20 operation mobilized more than 450 officers across Europe. 25 arrests were made in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Poland, Serbia, and the UK. Among those arrested were three high-value targets, including an Iraqi citizen accused of heading a linked smuggling ring. According to Europol, migrants paid between 4,500 euros ($4,715) and 12,000 …
Nov 29 2024
Tuvalu’s High Commission in Fiji agreed on May 2 to purchase three adjoining lots of land for FJ$ 5.8 million ($2.7 million) in the Raiwai area of Fiji’s capital, Suva. The sale was signed just over a month after OCCRP revealed that Australia had designated Chinese businessman Zhao as one of its top international criminal …
Nov 29 2024
The Gulf Cartel has expanded into illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing to fund its broader criminal enterprises. The cartel uses “lancha” boats to illegally harvest shark and red snapper from U.S. waters. The sanctions mark a significant action against the cartel, which is better known for its violent drug trafficking. The move is aimed …
Nov 29 2024
The camp, located near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border in the small town of Naroulia, operated in a former industrial complex during the spring of 2022. Witnesses described overcrowded conditions, insufficient food, and inadequate sanitation. Ukrainian men accused of resisting Russian occupation were reportedly interrogated and mistreated by Russian military personnel. One former detainee recounted beatings and …
Nov 28 2024
Microchip firm SMD Baltic publicly condemned the invasion and stated that it would no longer take orders from Russian or Belarussian firms. But the firm reportedly continued to export Western-made chips tousing a secretive network of companies. By the time theand banned the sale of microchips to Russia in late 2022, NEK had devised new …
Sep 19 2024
Bonnesen was cleared of all charges in January 2023. An expert called the verdict of the Svea Court of Appeals “unprecedented.” Bonnesen claimed that there were “no suspected money laundering-ties to Danske Bank’s operations in Estonia,” and that Swedbank “had gone through everything” to make sure there were no problems in the Baltics. The court …
Jul 02 2024
Ibrahim al-Organi is an Egyptian tycoon and leader of a large tribe. He was once jailed during Bedouin protests, but now leads a tribal alliance that helps keep the Sinai peninsula under government control. He is also the chairman of the Organi Group, a sprawling network of companies in real estate development and security. Zambian …