As Secretary General of the @oscepa, Roberto Montella observed last year’s pivotal election in Georgia and took part in a closed-door meeting on the wording of the OSCE’s post-election report.

⚽️But just weeks earlier, he had flown to Tbilisi to attend a football match organized by a top ruling party official occrp.org/en/scoop/osce-… Montella, himself a former football player, travelled to Tbilisi in September 2024 with veteran members of a hometown club, AC Milan, who were set to play a friendly match against a Georgian team.

The local organizer of the event, former AC Milan player Kakha Kaladze, was an old friend.

NEW: After being sanctioned by the US last year, Georgia’s richest man and honorary chair of its ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, moved his assets home. Experts say the effect is to “transfer the risk from himself and his own wealth to the country of Georgia.” occrp.org/en/scoop/slapp… Many of Ivanishvili’s assets were transferred on a single day, January 17, including a firm with construction rights on 12,000 square meters of land within a state-owned national park, @OCCRP, @ifactgeorgia and @georgia_gmc found occrp.org/en/scoop/slapp…

NEW: A Cypriot company ultimately owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich set up a fake superyacht rental business in an apparent attempt to dodge millions of euros in tax, leaked emails show.

Here’s what we found with @TBIJ and @BBCNews 👇

occrp.org/en/project/cyp… Between 1999-2010, Abramovich assembled a $1.2 billion fleet of superyachts.

But operating superyachts is expensive, and in the EU, value-added tax must be paid on everything needed to keep them in service…

… unless they were used for commercial purposes.

(Pixsell/Alamy)

🇰🇪Kenya has an abduction problem.

Since anti-government protests in June, at least 82 people have been kidnapped; 29 are still missing. Some have been found dead.

One kidnapping victim, activist Bob Njagi, was snatched from a public bus in August. ⤵️
occrp.org/en/news/the-co… Njagi was dragged into a vehicle by four hooded men, tortured, and taken to a building where he remained in a room alone. He was fed once a day.

Over a month after his abduction, Njagi was dropped on the side of the road. He had no idea where he was, but eventually got home.

NEW: The fugitive alleged boss of a Philippine human trafficking and cyberfraud operation purchased Cyprus citizenship and stashed 2 million euros in a real estate firm there, reporters have discovered.

Our scoop with @TheCIReN and @rapplerdotcom 👇 Philippine authorities have charged Huang Zhiyang with human trafficking, sued him for alleged money laundering, and frozen at least five of his bank accounts.

But before he was a suspect, Huang obtained citizenship in Cyprus by investing 2 million euros in a real estate firm.

Less than two months before Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell, Syrian intelligence was busy spying. Its work included targeting journalists and their families.

Exclusive documents shared with our partner @SIRAJ_SYRIA show how Assad’s secret service targeted journalists. Discovered at General Intelligence Directorate (GID) headquarters after rebel groups took power on Dec. 8, the documents reveal the Assad regime’s paranoia about independent media.

Journalists exposing corruption were framed as spies.

NEW: In Honiara, Solomon Islands, clean water is a luxury. Where floods bring disease, children bathe in polluted rivers and bottled water costs half a day’s wages.

A $20M @ABD_HQ plant funded in 2019 was supposed to help, but not a single drop of concrete has yet been poured.👇 The Kongulai Water Plant was meant to deliver 15M liters of clean water daily.

But from day one, the project seemed damned: lowball bids, blacklisted contractors, and political interference.

Here’s what went wrong.

NEW: A grandson of Tajikistan’s president purchased a luxury Dubai property when he was just 9 years old, leaked real estate records show.

But where did the money come from?

Now 18-years-old, Erajjon Gulov’s three-bedroom apartment is valued at $1.3 million. 🧵 Under UAE law, children between the ages of 7 and 18 can buy property with the approval of a legal guardian.

Back in 2015, Gulov’s mother and presidential daughter Parvina Rahmonova had no known source of income.

His father earned a presumably modest salary as a civil servant.

Romania’s constitutional court annulled first-round presidential election results amid allegations of Russian meddling that helped far-right candidate Calin Georgescu emerge as a surprise frontrunner.

The court has ordered the election process to restart.
occrp.org/en/news/romani… The decision follows findings from the country's intelligence service that Russia influenced the vote through a coordinated social media campaign.
occrp.org/en/news/romani…

NEW: An international money-laundering ring run from Moscow & Dubai has been moving billions in crypto and cash for criminal operations, @NCA_UK says.

84 people have been arrested as part of “Operation Destabilise,” involving police from the U.K., Ireland, the U.S. & France. Several alleged key figures in the ring had “multiple links to the Russian financial sector,” the NCA said.

Some were sanctioned by the U.S. today, including Georgy Rossi, founder of the TGR group of companies, one of two “criminal enterprises” allegedly running the network.

NEW: Two Canadian banks continue doing business with alleged Toronto-based mafia boss Angelo Figliomeni despite high-profile 2019 organized crime and money laundering charges.

OCCRP and @TorontoStar learned that the banks hold four of Figliomeni's mortgages. Figliomeni moved to Canada in the early 2000s after he was convicted on weapons charges as well as mafia membership in his native Italy.

In 2015, Canadian media reports described him as a suspected "Toronto-area mafia leader."

NEW: The world’s top climate change conference, #COP29, opens soon in Azerbaijan.

The host government, led by the ruling Aliyev regime, is among the world’s most repressive.

We’ve been investigating them for over a decade. Here’s what you need to know ⤵️
occrp.org/en/project/kno… For our latest story, we looked into the official corporate partners of #COP29.

Almost all of them are linked to the ruling Aliyev family and their inner circle.

It’s indicative of how this regime operates.

But it’s just our latest finding.
occrp.org/en/project/kno…

NEW: A court in Kyrgyzstan today sentenced two journalists to 5+ years in prison in a case that has sparked international condemnation from rights groups.
occrp.org/en/news/kyrgyz… They are among 11 journalists from @TemirovLive, OCCRP’s local partner, who were detained in January for allegedly inciting and organizing mass riots.

Press freedom groups have called the case political.
occrp.org/en/project/unc…

NEW: When undercover reporters engaged with a pro-Russia Telegram account seeking to recruit EU citizens to commit acts of sabotage, they were offered $10,000 to:

👀Spy on a military base
🔥Set fire to NATO vehicles
🗡️Commit murder ⬇️
occrp.org/en/investigati… The “Privet Bot” (“Hi Bot”) account has been repeatedly advertised on Grey Zone, a Wagner-associated Telegram channel with over half-a-million followers.

“Just say privet to us,” it says, calling for European citizens to join the fight against Ukraine’s Western allies.

NEW: During Azerbaijan’s blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh last year, the Red Cross provided lifesaving medical evacuations.

The need was great.

But the @ICRC's efforts were obstructed by the Azeri government — and challenged by the Azerbaijan Red Crescent. The only road to this contested Armenian enclave, deep in Azerbaijani territory, was blocked for 9 months — first by pro-gov't activists, then by an official checkpoint.

Locals, like Ani Mangasaryan and her sick baby, were cut off from life-saving supplies & medical treatment.

OCCRP stands with our member center @MXvsCORRUPCION, which Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has accused of being “an opposition group” for receiving funding from the U.S. government and other international organizations. A non-profit newsroom @MXvsCORRUPCION, or MCCI, investigates power, corruption & organized crime in Mexico.

In 2022 it published findings about property used by López Obrador’s son, a house owned by an executive of a company that received gov't contracts.
contralacorrupcion.mx/anuario-de-la-…

The International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) continues today with various panels and a plenary with our Co-Founder, Paul Radu (@Idashboard), and leaders from across the anti-corruption space. #IACC2024 Paul Radu(@Idashboard) will join @PublicEyeSuisse’s @AngelaMattli, @HenriThulliez of @PPLAAF, @FPCThinkTank’s @skcoughtrie & @eleanorrose of @TBIJ, for the session "Tackling SLAPPs: A Critical Frontier in The Global Fight against Corruption" #IACC2024

Authorities in Moscow issued arrest warrants against two investigative journalists with Important Stories (IStories), accusing them of spreading fake news about the Russian army.

#PressFreedom #russia #moscow occrp.org/en/daily/18815…
Both journalists –– editor-in-chief Roman Anin, and reporter Ekaterina Fomina – fled Russia after the government cracked down on free media, following the invasion of Ukraine.

Mining magnate Beny Steinmetz has faced negative headlines, outwitted business foes & confronted lawsuits.

OCCRP found that when he came under pressure, companies controlled by a Greek businessman struck deals that ended up helping him out. Reporters used thousands of documents — including leaks and court filings from around the world — to uncover a paper trail of the deals between firms owned by Greek businessman Sabby Mionis and Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz.

🇮🇳Documents obtained by reporters at OCCRP and the @FT suggest that the politically powerful Adani Group – one of India’s biggest conglomerates – sold more than two dozen shipments of coal to a state power company for 3x its original price. 👇

occrp.org/en/investigati… The politically powerful Adani Group is a massive conglomerate with interests in everything from airports to television stations.

Led by billionaire Gautam Adani, it is perceived as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Drug lords.
Notorious politicians.
Terrorism financiers.

In the gleaming cityscape of Dubai, some of the world’s wealthy + most wanted have taken advantage of secrecy, lax regulations & a hot property market.

Who are they? Come see.

Welcome to #DubaiUnlocked. Using leaked data obtained by @C4ADS, we worked with @e24 to lead an investigative project involving 140 journalists from 74 media outlets to compile a global picture of who owns what in Dubai.

occrp.org/en/dubai-unloc…