2) How do dictators like those in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan launder their reputations?
“If everybody knew how these countries actually operated, they would be worldwide pariahs.”
— @DrewOCCRP in #TheCaviarConnection.
3) #TheCaviarConnection features investigative journalist @Khadija_Ismayil who defied pressure to launch an investigation into Azerbaijan's ruling elites.
4) "What people don’t realize in the West is that it’s going to bite them back — big, big, big."
OCCRP Co-Founder @IDashboard discusses how dictators shower influential people in democratic countries with money to maintain power.
🏆 The #PegasusProject, a collaborative international investigation led by @FbdnStories, has just won the 2021 Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism. The award ceremony was held in the European Parliament today. THREAD ⬇️ europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-… 1/9
@FbdnStories This project involved 80+ reporters working for 17 outlets across the world, including OCCRP. It showed how “Pegasus” spyware made by NSO Group, an Israeli tech company, was used to infiltrate the cell phones of journalists, activists, and politicians. 2/9 occrp.org/en/the-pegasus…
@FbdnStories Among those targeted by the software — which NSO Group claims is meant only for use against criminals and terrorists — was Khadija Ismayilova, an award-winning and frequently persecuted Azerbaijani investigative reporter. 3/9 occrp.org/en/the-pegasus…
An obscure Scottish company that doesn’t even have a website, Caran Holdings exported vast amounts of fertilizer from a state chemical plant built with a Japanese loan.
Today’s investigation reveals how Caran is connected to President Berdimuhamedov's nephew, Hajymyrat Rejepov.
Delanore Limited, another mysterious UK firm, couldn’t be reached by phone. This company became a major exporter of petrochemicals from state-run facilities.
Another nephew of the president, Shamyrat Rejepov, had a secret ‘power of attorney’ giving him control over the company.
NEW: Switzerland-based commodities giant Trafigura paid influential insider Kudakwashe Tagwirei $100 million in fees for his help securing a sweetheart deal for access to Zimbabwe’s fuel market.
As Zimbabwe’s economy has floundered, Tagwirei — a tycoon known as “Queen Bee” due to his vast economic influence — has flourished, benefitting from shadowy contracts worth billions and preferential access to minerals and scarce foreign currency.
OCCRP learned he also received $100 million in fees from Trafigura for helping them dominate Zimbabwe’s fuel market. “Only one set of interests controls the fuel: Trafigura and Tagwirei,” Zimbabwe's former finance minister told OCCRP.
NEW: The longtime speaker of Azerbaijan’s parliament, Oktay Asadov, had a $30,000 annual salary. But his family owns real estate worth millions in London, Moscow, and Dubai. #PandoraPapers 1/ occrp.org/en/the-pandora…
Asadov’s wife (the director of a state kindergarten) bought an apartment in the Triumph Palace, a neo-Stalinist Moscow skyscraper. She also owns a large building that houses this unusual-looking sauna. 2/
One of Asadov’s daughters bought an apartment in the Al Bateen Residences in Dubai (the tall building on the right). Her husband also bought office space in the Emirate, as well as a three-bedroom London apartment in prestigious Regent’s Park. 3/
NEW: The head of Russia’s Channel One — a state-owned pro-government outlet — used offshore structures to secretly acquire a stake in a massive project to renovate old Soviet movie theaters. #PandoraPapers 1/ occrp.org/en/the-pandora…
Among the 39 movie theaters were outstanding examples of Soviet modernism. Some were named after capitals of the Soviet republics and drew inspiration from regional architectural styles. Here are the ‘Sofia,’ the ‘Yerevan,’ and the ‘Baku.’ 2/
These buildings were put up for auction by the Moscow city government in 2014 and acquired at the minimum price, with no competitive bidding, by a conglomerate called ADG Group. They were meant to be renovated and modernized. 3/
What’s a former beauty pageant winner doing with $30m? And what does this have to do with two powerful oligarchs who made their fortunes in Kazakhstan’s notoriously corrupt natural resources sector? #PandoraPapers 1/ occrp.org/en/the-pandora…
Now a director of two dance institutions in the Central Asian country, Assel Kurmabayeva’s long been rumoured to be the tokal, or unofficial (third) wife, of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev — arguably the most powerful man in the country. 2/
The Pandora Papers leak reveals how in 2010, she received a payment through highly obscure entities in offshore jurisdictions connected to Vladimir Ni and Vladimir Kim, oligarchs believed to be close confidants of Nazarbayev. 3/