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Hello John,
There’s a quarter-billion-euro-sized hole in one of the European Union’s most celebrated and ambitious programs to reduce carbon emissions. Launched in 2005, the European Emissions Trading System (ETS) requires polluters to buy an allowance for every tonne of carbon dioxide they put into the atmosphere. The idea is to harness market forces in aid of climate goals: By putting a rising price on carbon, the system incentivises companies to invest in cleaner energy. The ETS is at the heart of Europe’s climate policy — and there are indications that it’s working. Emissions covered by the system have dropped by over 45 percent since 2005. “Coal plants are shutting down across Europe, even in countries without ambitious climate policies,” an activist told OCCRP. “The economics simply don’t stack up.” |
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| But in a recent investigation, we found that Romania’s state energy company, Oltenia, may have underpaid at least €250 million in ETS allowances by understating how much carbon dioxide its three coal power plants have emitted over the past eight years. The company’s calculations were based on measurements performed in its own laboratory, raising questions about the need for more oversight. This isn’t the first hit to the ETS system. As we’ve previously reported, two coal plants in Bulgaria are under investigation for under-declaring their own emissions, and another scheme worth hundreds of millions is under investigation in southern Italy. Episodes like these undermine the market on which the ETS is based and deprive the program of money that is funnelled into green energy projects across the continent. The stakes are high. The ETS was the world’s first major carbon market, has inspired similar systems worldwide, and is set to expand: A separate ETS2, which will cover road transport and buildings, is set to launch in 2027. But if Europe’s going to bet on carbon pricing — and demonstrate to the world that these systems work — the enforcement has to be real. |
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| | | Inside a Pacific Ponzi Empire |
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| From a compound deep in the interior of Bougainville, His Majesty David Peii — a self-appointed monarch once known as Noah Musingku — warns of a coming global financial collapse. From the ashes of the world economy, he promises his followers, those who have invested in his own invented currency will rise and become unspeakably wealthy. Musingku first came to prominence around the turn of the millennium for running a Ponzi scam that fleeced millions of dollars from investors across Papua New Guinea and beyond. |
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| When the scam collapsed, he fled to the semi-autonomous island of Bougainville, where he pronounced himself a Christian king and established a new scheme: an online bank and a currency emblazoned with his face and backed, he claimed, by God and the island’s underground gold reserves. His currency found favor in a corner of the internet frequented by hardcore government skeptics from around the world, who believed the glossy banknotes were worth more than the U.S. dollar, and a better investment than even the buzziest tech stock. OCCRP Asia Pacific Editor Aubrey Belford and freelance journalist Torbjörn Wester journeyed to the farthest reaches of the Pacific to meet the aging fugitive monarch and peer inside his empire, where money, authority, and the nature of reality itself are up for debate. Read the full story → |
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| Inside The Story “I'd always wanted to go to Bougainville but I didn't want to simply go and interview Musingku and do the same old story that other journalists have done,” Belford told OCCRP Weekly. “Luckily, [Wester] had been to see Musingku the year before and had stumbled across a lead that he didn't know how to report on his own.” He'd found that Musingku had ties to some people in Europe, but needed help tracking down the documents that would allow him to make sense of it all. “With this in mind, I felt there was the potential to find something truly new here and after the arduous journey to see Musingku, I found the document at his compound that unraveled the whole thing: a guestbook,” Belford said. “I convinced his head of security, a Fijian mercenary named Namoli, to let me photograph most of the entries from 2008 until today. Using that, plus corporate records, domain lookups, archived websites, and a lot of interviews, we were finally able to reconstruct this whole story.” |
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| | | Damascus Dossier: Telco Helped Assad Regime Spy on Syrians |
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| That mobile operator Syriatel had close connections to the regime of former Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad was no secret. But new documents recovered after the fall of the Assad regime show just how far Syriatel went in sharing sensitive client data with the regime’s intelligence services, providing spies with unfettered access to phone numbers, data, and conversations. The documents were provided to OCCRP member centers ARIJ (Jordan) and DARAJ (Lebanon) as part of the “Damascus Dossier” investigation, based on 134,000 Syrian intelligence documents obtained by German broadcaster NDR. Read the full story → |
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| | Inside Italy’s Fight to Break the Mafia’s Grip on Families |
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| The Italian mafia is, famously, big on family. For women who marry into organized crime, and for the children born into it, escaping the cycle can prove difficult — if not outright impossible. Now, Italian lawmakers are seeking to expand a program that helps mothers and children break away from organized crime families and start anew. Since the program’s inception, the justice system has removed more than 200 minors from known mafia families across Italy, placing them in foster families, with distant relatives, or in protected communities. Of those who are now adults, 80 percent have chosen not to go back into the family business. Yet the approach is not without its critics, who warn that such separations may cause additional trauma to already vulnerable children. Read the full story → |
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| | Nepalis Rescued From Myanmar Scam Centers Return Home |
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| A group of 47 Nepali nationals recently rescued from scam centers in Myanmar shared harrowing stories of their ordeal after arriving in Kathmandu this week. “I was not paid my salary. In one punishment, I was hung up by my arms for 18 hours and locked in a cell for three days,” one rescued man told OCCRP upon his return. The men were freed as part of the Myanmar junta’s recent crackdown on cyber-scam compounds operating along the border with Thailand, many of which have been run by military-aligned militia groups. These centers, which largely rely on trafficked workers who have been lured with false promises, form part of a global scam industry estimated to rake in billions of dollars annually. One of the recently rescued Nepali men told OCCRP he was forced to target Americans and Europeans in cyberscams, but couldn’t meet the ambitious targets set for him. “They told me I could leave only if I paid six lakhs ($4200),” he said. “Even after I paid, they still didn’t let me go. I was trapped.” Officials say Nepalis are being lured by a large, “sophisticated” criminal network. “There are still many Nepalis in [cyber] camps waiting to come home; we don’t know how many,” Krishna Prasad Pangeni, chief of Nepal’s Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau, said. “We are investigating, and we’ll file cases against the Nepali trafficker [who lured them there].” The U.N. estimated last year that at least 120,000 people in Myanmar were being forced to work for such schemes. Read the full story → |
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| | Ukraine Probes Bail Money in ‘Operation Midas’ Case |
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| As Ukraine continues its sweeping corruption crackdown, investigators are scrutinizing the origin of more than $1 million in bail payments for five suspects identified during the 15-month “Operation Midas” investigation. Operation Midas uncovered a network of “shadow managers” and officials at the state-owned nuclear operator Energoatom who allegedly forced suppliers to pay 10–15 percent bribes and laundered some $100 million. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau is now seeking to establish who funded some of the suspects’ bail, and whether any of that money came from the “back office” that allegedly laundered the network’s kickbacks and illicit proceeds. Read the full story → |
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| | Nepal Files Corruption Charges Over Pokhara Airport |
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| As Nepal prepares for elections following a youth-led revolution earlier this year, the crackdown on graft continues. The country’s anti-corruption agency has charged dozens of former senior officials, five former ministers, and a Chinese construction company over the alleged embezzlement of $74 million during the construction of central Nepal’s Pokhara International Airport. According to a charge sheet seen by OCCRP, Nepalese officials and contractor China CAMC Engineering colluded to inflate costs and breach procurement laws, leading to compromises on construction quality that sparked safety concerns. The group is alleged to have raised the airport’s approved cost estimate from $145 million to $215.95 million “with malicious intent.” The high-profile project, in the country’s tourism hub of Pokhara, is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Read the full story → |
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| | | | Over a year on from a report by OCCRP and Cypriot member center CIReN on the two-decade legal saga of lawyer Christos Christodoulides — who absconded from a U.K. prison after a 2005 sentence for immigration fraud — the Cyprus Bar Association has moved to temporarily suspend his licence. |
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| | | Journalists from major international outlets based in Hong Kong have been summoned by China’s national security office and warned against spreading “false information” about the December 6 fire that killed at least 159 people.
A coordinated crackdown on a major cell of the so-called Balkan Cartel by Bosnian and German police saw three suspects arrested and millions of euros worth of assets seized.
Former Bolivian president Luis Arce has been arrested over allegations he misused funds earmarked for Indigenous communities during his tenure as economy minister.
Several senior police officials in Fiji are under investigation amid allegations of corruption and collusion with organized crime figures and drug traffickers.
The U.K. has sanctioned Russian ideologue Aleksandr Dugin, pro-war blogger “Rybar,” and Kremlin-linked foundation Pravfond, imposing asset freezes and a ban on the provision of trust services.
The U.K. government has announced a more aggressive posture on the enablers of corruption, unveiling a new plan to close legal loopholes and strengthen defenses against illicit finance.
In Ecuador, the bank accounts of Indigenous and environmental groups have been frozen amid mounting protests over fuel-subsidy cuts and a new mining project.
China is set to prosecute 67-year-old Qi Zhala, a former head of the Tibet regional government, on charges of bribery and abuse of power.
Over 10,000 people gathered in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius this week to protest proposed parliamentary amendments that critics say threaten the independence of the public broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television.
Legal challenges continue to mount for Lithuanian finance start-up Bankera and the Vanuatu-based Pacific Private Bank its founders acquired, with more than 30 raids carried out on companies associated with the firm as part of a pre-trial investigation of possible embezzlement tied to its Initial Coin Offering.
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| | | Six Things You Should Know About "Foreign Agent" Laws |
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| “Foreign Agent” laws may sound like a bureaucratic formality — but they’ve increasingly been used as a tool of repression.
Watch our explainer → |
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| | Cocaine and Bananas: How Balkan Traffickers Concealed Drugs in Europe-Bound Fruit Shipments |
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| Our recent investigation revealed how drugs were sent from Ecuadorian ports in containers of bananas belonging to a shipping company owned by the family of the Ecuadorian President — and established that these smuggling operations were organized by prominent crime figures from the Balkans.
Watch the video → |
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| | | We’re currently hiring for the following roles: |
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| | | Floodlight Summit
The third annual Floodlight Summit recently concluded in Cartagena, bringing together investigative reporters and top filmmakers to explore screen adaptations. As Floodlight and OCCRP Co-Founder Paul Radu noted, the invite-only Summit is a "vital nerve center" designed to connect courageous journalists with entertainment creators who discuss how to bring critical reporting to mass audiences. OCCRP has partnered with the Gabo Foundation on the initiative, which carries forward the legacy of Gabriel García Márquez by uniting the power of film with the gritty realism of investigative reporting. Several development deals are in progress from past Summits, and we look forward to seeing how this year's investigations might find their way to the screen. Have a great story that would make a riveting film or television series? Journalists can submit a proposal for a chance to participate in the next Floodlight Summit. |
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| P.S. Thanks for reading! Got feedback? Simply reply to this email. |
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