NEW: We've translated a story Roman Anin and our Russian partner, @istories_media, published in March. It shows that a senior newly-appointed FSB official has ties to figures in organized crime.

Roman's apartment was raided by the FSB on Friday night. 1/
occrp.org/en/investigati…
The official at the center of this investigation is Sergei Korolev, who Vladimir Putin appointed to be the FSB’s first deputy director.

Here’s what Roman and @istories_media found 👇2/
➡️ 2004: St. Petersburg police found that Korolev, who then worked in the FSB’s economic division, had close contact with Oleg Makovoz, an organized criminal figure later sentenced to 23 yrs for kidnapping, extortion, and murder. 3/
➡️ 2008: Spanish police identified an official nicknamed "Shakefoot" as an ally of accused criminal Gennady Petrov, who fled to Russia after being arrested in Spain.

As it turns out, "Shakefoot" appears to be Korolev. Read the full story for more: 4/ Image
➡️ 2018: Aslan Gagiev, the head of a criminal group from the Caucasus accused of carrying out many murders, told Austrian authorities that an FSB official — almost certainly Korolev — helped him flee Russia.

Sources told @istories_media that Korolev owed Gagiyev a favor. 5/ Image
So why would Putin promote someone with Korolev’s background?

This is the question @istories_media journalists asked throughout their reporting. 6/
Korolev’s friends and former enemies answered in roughly in the same way:

"Who is not without sin? At least [Korolev] has never betrayed anyone. The president appreciates such people." 7/
We don’t know for sure whether this story is connected to the Friday raid on Roman’s apartment and his interrogation this morning. Formally, Roman is a "witness" in an "invasion of privacy" case that’s related to this separate 2016 investigation. But… 8/ occrp.org/en/investigati…
...that old case was re-opened just two weeks after the Korolev/FSB investigation, described earlier in this thread, was published by @istories_media. Either way, Roman’s opaque and potentially serious legal situation is far from over. 9/
Russia is one of the world’s hardest countries in which to do investigative journalism.

You can help by:
➡️ Following and donating to @istories_media
➡️ Using the hashtag #LeaveRomanAninAlone
➡️ Continuing to follow us here. We’ll keep bringing you the latest.

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More from @OCCRP

14 Apr
🏆 Our #TroikaLaundromat and #FraudFactory investigations won #IJ4EU Impact Awards! Image
#FraudFactory uncovered an international scam that used Facebook ads and an army of multilingual salespeople to defraud people around the world out of millions of dollars. Many of the victims have been left in financial ruin. occrp.org/en/fraud-facto…
#TroikaLaundromat revealed an $8.8 billion network of offshore companies that allowed corrupt politicians and criminals to launder money. occrp.org/en/troikalaund…
Read 5 tweets
9 Apr
🚨 BREAKING: The Moscow apartment of Roman Anin, editor-in-chief of OCCRP member center @istories_media, is currently being raided by the FSB. /1
@istories_media Roman’s colleagues are currently unable to reach him.

The last thing they heard from him, before he went silent, is that the FSB search may be related to a 2016 story he published in Novaya Gazeta, his previous employer. /2
@istories_media That story concerned Igor Sechin, a former deputy prime minister and now the head of the state-controlled oil giant Rosneft. It connected Sechin with an ultra-luxurious mega-yacht, the St. Princess Olga.

Here’s OCCRP’s English version of that story. 3/

occrp.org/en/investigati…
Read 8 tweets
7 Apr
NEW: Chechnya’s longtime ruler, Ramzan Kadyrov, has often promoted polygamy in the conservative Islamic republic. With @wwwproektmedia, we reveal that he practices what he preaches. Kadyrov has a second wife — and she’s worth millions. 1/
occrp.org/en/investigati…
In 2006, when Fatima Khazuyeva was 14 years old, she took second place in an unusual Chechen beauty contest — and Kadyrov was in attendance. Multiple sources have confirmed that she is now his second wife. 2/
Chechnya is one of Russia's poorest regions. But Khazuyeva owns three Moscow apartments worth $5 million. She also has a large mansion in central Grozny, right by Kadyrov’s working residence. And her mother owns a for-profit rehabilitation center built near her home village. 3/
Read 5 tweets
2 Apr
NEW: Top Namibian officials allegedly siphoned millions of dollars from a state-backed fishing deal.

Bank records, emails, and scribbled notes show how some of this money was used to help the president get reelected.

Our latest with @TheNamibian 1/
occrp.org/en/investigati…
Financial and legal documents show that two officials close to President Hage Geingob set up several companies that skimmed $4.5m from a ~$640m contract that involved Fishcor, a state-owned fishing company. 2/
The two officials accused of helping devise this scheme are also awaiting trial for their role in #Fishrot, Namibia’s largest bribery scandal.

They are:
➡️ Sacky Shanghala: The attorney-general at the time.
➡️ James Hatuikulipi: The former chairman of the board of Fishcor. 3/
Read 6 tweets
31 Mar
NEW: Controversial Serbian businessman Stanko Subotić — who's currently suing OCCRP — sold land to French construction giant Vinci for 4x its estimated value.

Our latest #OpenLux investigation with @KRIKrs. 1/
occrp.org/en/openlux/bus…
OCCRP reported in 2018 that Subotić, long linked to Balkan drug lord Darko Saric, was poised to reap millions from a Belgrade airport deal.

Today’s investigation shows the amount of money he received was far greater than initially projected. 2/
occrp.org/en/investigati…
When Nikola Tesla Airport was run by the state, land in the area was estimated to be worth ~€100 per sq meter by a gov’t advisory group.

But Vinci, the French firm that paid to be the airport's operator, ended up paying Subotić €436 per sq meter. He pocketed €47m. 3/
Read 7 tweets
29 Mar
NEW: OCCRP, @Reuters, @TheTimesofMalta, & @SZ reveal new details on the secret offshore companies and Chinese businessmen that journalist #DaphneCaruanaGalizia was investigating before her assassination — including the mysterious company "Macbridge." 1/
occrp.org/en/thedaphnepr…
What is Macbridge? Activists in Malta have pushed the gov’t to find out who’s behind the obscure company, which was mentioned by disgraced accounting firm Nexia BT in a leaked email that discussed channeling money to public officials. 2/
Today, we reveal that Macbridge is a Hong Kong-based firm tied to a prominent Chinese businessman who was also being relentlessly investigated by Caruana Galizia before her murder.

➡️ Chen Cheng, a senior exec at the Chinese branch of multinational consulting firm Accenture. 3/
Read 12 tweets

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