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Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

Jan 24 • 8 tweets • 4 min read

THREAD: The FBI recently raided the home of a sitting U.S. congressman as part of a probe into Azerbaijani interests in the country.

OCCRP has previously uncovered several instances of Azerbaijan buying influence abroad.

This thread has a few examples👇
theintercept.com/2022/01/21/hen…

In 2017, OCCRP uncovered the #AzerbaijaniLaundromat, a $2.9b money-laundering scheme that was used in part to clean the government’s reputation overseas — this included bribing European politicians. Examples below👇
occrp.org/en/azerbaijani…

🇩🇪 Eduard Lintner: The former German politician received €819,500 from #AzerbaijaniLaundromat-linked firms. In 2013, Lintner led a team that monitored Azerbaijan’s election. He said they found no irregularities despite evidence to the contrary.
occrp.org/en/azerbaijani…

🇩🇪 Karin Strenz: The former German MP allegedly received €22,000 from a company linked to Eduard Lintner while she served on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where she defended Azerbaijan despite its troubling human rights record.
occrp.org/en/daily/11528…

🇧🇬 Kalin Mitrev: The husband of Irina Bokov, the former general director of UNESCO, received €345K from #AzerbaijaniLaundromat-linked firms.

Bokova once bestowed UNESCO’s Mozart Medal to Azerbaijan's first lady.
occrp.org/en/azerbaijani…

🇮🇹 Luca Volonte: The former PACE member received over €2 million from companies linked to the #AzerbaijaniLaundromat.

Volonte was recently sentenced to prison for taking bribes to help mute Europe’s criticism of Azerbaijani’s human rights record.
occrp.org/en/daily/13628…

Eckart Sager: The former CNN producer received €1,975,000 in an UAE account from an #AzerbaijaniLaundromat-linked company

Sager was listed as a press contact for public relations articles that promote the Azerbaijani government’s views.
occrp.org/en/azerbaijani…

These are just some of the influential people who received money from the Laundromat.

Here's a more comprehensive list of the people an companies that benefited from the $2.9b money-laundering scheme:
occrp.org/en/azerbaijani…

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@OCCRP

Jan 25

@TemirovLive

⚠️ The Kyrgyz government’s campaign against @TemirovLive, a team of investigative journalists headed by the award-winning Bolot Temirov, is gaining steam — and has just taken a sickening new turn.

Please share this thread. 1/9

@TemirovLive

@TemirovLive On Saturday, the @TemirovLive office was raided on a dubious pretext: Police say an unknown woman accused “a man named Bolot” of “forcing her to take drugs.”

He was arrested after officers “found” drugs on him that his colleagues say were planted. 2/9
occrp.org/en/daily/15812…

@TemirovLive

@TemirovLive Now, in a shameful new offensive, a nationalist Facebook page run by an anonymous account has posted a video attacking @TemirovLive. It exposes the intimate private life of a young woman who works for the outlet. 3/9

Read 9 tweets

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

@OCCRP

Jan 19

NEW KAZAKHSTAN INVESTIGATION: “First President” and “Leader of the Nation” Nursultan Nazarbayev — who appeared in a speech yesterday after weeks of uncertainty — controls assets worth at least $8 billion through a set of “charitable foundations.” /1 occrp.org/en/investigati…

Their names are a blur: The Nazarbayev Foundation, the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation, the Foundation of the First President.

Kazakh media has devoted upbeat coverage to the good works of these nonprofit orgs, like giving gifts to children or supporting the Kazakh language. /2

But corporate records show that they have also been used to amass assets worth billions, including luxury hotels, banks, factories, and warehouses. Everything from a golf course to a pasta factory. /3

Read 7 tweets

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

@OCCRP

Jan 13

NEW: Kudakwashe Tagwirei, a Zimbabwean fuel tycoon under U.S. sanctions, cashed in on preferential treatment from the country’s government amid the spectacular crash of a new local currency. /1
occrp.org/en/investigati…

Documents and emails obtained by OCCRP reveal how the US-sanctioned fuel magnate used back-channel access to prematurely cash in on state-backed securities. /2

Skirting regulations to obtain otherwise scarce US dollars, Tagwirei and his associates then appear to have used proceeds from the scheme to purchase shares in a lucrative mining project. /3

Read 4 tweets

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

@OCCRP

Jan 11

NEW #PandoraPapers: One of Ukraine’s top pro-Russia politicians appears to have been the secret owner of Purneft, a Russian firm that operates oil wells near the Arctic Circle.

This isn't the first shadowy oil company we've tied to Taras Kozak 👀 /1
occrp.org/en/the-pandora…

When Purneft was acquired by a Belarusian state oil company, the owner reportedly earned roughly $50m.

The publicly listed owner of the Russian firm, however, was not a person — but a British Virgin Islands firm called Brimipana.

This story reveals who was behind Brimipana. /2

The owner of Purneft was Aleksandr Kiszel, a little-known Hungarian citizen w/o a track record as a serious businessman.

OCCRP has identified links suggesting that the Hungarian is merely a front for Taras Kozak, a leading pro-Russian politician and media mogul in Ukraine. /3

Read 4 tweets

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

@OCCRP

Jan 8

OCCRP is aware of a serious and credible threat directed against the safety of investigative journalist Atanas Tchobanov of our partners BIRD.BG and BIVOL.BG. The authorities have been informed and are taking this threat seriously.

OCCRP’s policy is to aggressively investigate all threats and attacks against its partners and we will act to address this latest threat against Tchobanov.

Any attack on an OCCRP member will result in a significant investment of investigative resources with the goal of bringing any perpetrators to swift justice and to complete the work of any affected journalist.

Read 4 tweets

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

@OCCRP

Dec 10, 2021

NEW: "What they did in 20 years won’t be recovered in a hundred."

A new investigation by OCCRP reveals how dairy firms and Mexico’s state water agency are allegedly fueling the destruction of one of the most important ecosystems on the planet. 1/5
occrp.org/en/investigati…

The Cuatrociénegas wetlands, in the mountains of the Chihuahua desert, are home to unique bacteria that scientists believe may help unlock the secret of how life on earth began. 2/5

Facilitated by a climate of lawlessness and corruption, experts say that dairy companies in the region have drained huge amounts of water to irrigate crops they grow for cattle fodder. 3/5

Read 5 tweets

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