Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of investigative journalists with staff on six continents.[1] It was founded in 2006 and specializes in organized crime and corruption.
Formation
It publishes its stories through local media and in English and Russian through its website. OCCRP works with and supports 50+ independent media outlets in Europe, Africa, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. In 2017, NGO Advisor ranked it 69th in the world in their annual list of the 500 best non-governmental organizations (NGO).[2]
History[edit]
OCCRP was founded by veteran journalists Drew Sullivan and Paul Radu. Sullivan was serving as the editor of the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and Radu worked with an early Romanian center. The team paired with colleagues in the region on a story looking at energy traders. The project showed traders were buying power at below production rates while the public was paying increasingly higher fees.
In 2019 the project received a Global Shining Light Award Citation of Excellence from the Global Investigative Journalism Network for its story entitled The Azerbaijani Laundromat.[3]
In March 2022, OCCRP was labeled as "undesirable organization" in Russia.[4]
Mission[edit]
OCCRP's stated goal is to help people understand how organized crime and corruption resides in their countries and in their governments.[72] The organization does not belong to any country, political philosophy or set of beliefs other than that all people should be allowed to choose their own governments and lead their own lives in safety, liberty and opportunity.[72] Its reporters and editors come from dozens of countries.[72]
OCCRP's mission statement says, "Our world is increasingly polarized. The world’s media channels are rife with propaganda, misinformation and simply wrong information. We must all strive to understand how our increasingly complex society works. We must be able to find the truth to make the kinds of decisions we need to. We are committed in our small way to telling the truth the best we can."[72]
The organization provides training to reporters and partners.[72]
As of May 2024, OCCRP has claimed the following totals as a result of its investigations:[94]
Organization and funding[edit]
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a registered name of the Journalism Development Network (JDN), a Maryland-based 501(c)(3) organization.[95] OCCRP is governed by a board of directors: Marina Gorbis, David Boardman, Anders Alexanderson, Sue Gardner, Saska Cvetkovska, Drew Sullivan and Paul Radu.[96]
OCCRP include the Center for Investigative Reporting (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (CIN) in Sarajevo, the RISE Project in Bucharest, the Centar za istraživačko novinarstvo - Serbia (CINS)[97] in Belgrade, Investigative Journalists of Armenia (HETQ)[98] in Yerevan, the Bulgarian Investigative Journalism Center[99] in Sofia, Átlátszó.hu[100] in Budapest, MANS[101] in Montenegro, Re:Baltica[102] in Riga, SCOOP-Macedonia[103] in Skopje, Bivol.bg[104] in Bulgaria, Slidstvo.info[105] in Ukraine, The Czech Center for Investigative Reporting[106] in Prague and RISE Moldova in Chisinau, the Belarusian Investigative Center in exile in Poland among others. It is also partnered with Novaya Gazeta in Moscow and the Kyiv Post in Kyiv. New member centers were added to the OCCRP Network between 2015 and 2016, including the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI), Direkt36 in Hungary, Slidstvo.info in Ukraine, and DOSSIER in Austria.[107]
OCCRP is supported by grants by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), the United States Department of State, the Swiss Confederation, Google Ideas, Open Society Foundations (OSF)[108] and the Knight Foundation.[72]
Awards and recognition[edit]
OCCRP won the 2015 European Press Prize Special Award for its work, with the judges saying "the OCCRP is a memorably motivated, determined force for good everywhere it operates. Its members do not get rich, but the societies they serve are richer and cleaner for the scrutiny only true, independent journalism can provide."[109]
It won the 2015 Investigative Reporters and Editors Tom Renner award for "The Khadija Project," an initiative to continue the work of imprisoned OCCRP/RFE reporter Khadija Ismayilova.[110] It has been a finalist for three years running for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting. It was a 2010 finalist for its project on the illegal document trade.[111] It won the 2011 Daniel Pearl Award for its project[112] "Offshore Crime, Inc.",[113] a series of stories documenting offshore tax havens, the criminals who use them and millions of dollars in lost tax money. It was again a finalist in 2013 for its story about an international money laundering ring called the Proxy Platform.[114] It won the Global Shining Light Award in 2008 for investigative reporting under duress for its series on energy traders.[115] OCCRP was double finalist for the same award in 2013 for its stories on the first family of Montenegro's bank, "First Family, First Bank".[116] It won the award[117] for its stories on the first family of Azerbaijan's ownership of major companies in that country. It partnered with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for a project on tobacco smuggling[118] that won the Overseas Press Club Award and Investigative Reporters and Editors's Tom Renner Award for crime reporting.[119][120]
Khadija Ismayilova[edit]
OCCRP and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty[121] journalist Khadija Ismayilova, based in Baku, Azerbaijan was blackmailed by an unknown party with video captured in her bedroom using a camera installed in the wall. The camera was planted two days after OCCRP/RFERL published a story by Ismayilova about the presidential family in Azerbaijan and how it secretly owned Azerfon, a mobile phone company with a monopoly 3G license.[122] A note threatened to show the videos if Ismayilova did not "behave". She went public about the threats and the videos were shown on at least two websites. Ismayilova said that "the evidence shows that the government agencies were involved in the crime and prosecutor’s office fails to act as an independent investigative body".[123]
After this incident, Ismayilova published articles stating that the first family also owned shares in six major goldfields[124] and they owned one of the construction companies that built the new showcase Crystal Hall[125] auditorium in Baku, the site of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. In September 2015, Ismayilova was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty wrote that the charges were "widely viewed as being trumped up in retaliation for her reports linking family members of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to massive business and real estate holdings". Amal Clooney offered to act as her lawyer.[126]
OCCRP started the Khadija Project, an investigative reporting effort to continue Ismayilova's work.[127]
From 2016 to the present (2021), OCCRP's website has been permanently blocked in Azerbaijan by the Aliev government, without any court decision.[128]
In January 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Azerbaijan government failed to properly investigate a 2012 "sex video" and the subsequent threats of its public disclosure.[129][130]
Official website
Media related to Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project at Wikimedia Commons