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OCCRP - Articles
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"> <channel> <title>OCCRP - Articles</title> <description>The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of investigative journalists. </description> <link>https://www.occrp.org/</link> <item> <title>Russia: Banking on Influence</title> <description><p>Russian President Vladimir Putin insists that while the Panama Papers stories published by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and its partner Novaya Gazeta are correct, they show no corruption or illegal activity on his part. Putin has called the stories a Western plot to destabilize his regime.</p> </description> <pubDate>Thu, 09 Jun 2016 13:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/rossiya-putins-bank/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/rossiya-putins-bank/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Odesa mayor hides construction business offshore</title> <description><p>Judging from Odesa Mayor Hennady Trukhanov’s latest income declaration, <a href="https://www.occrp.org/documents/odesa-mayor-hides-construction-business-offshore/P0.pdf">he has no foreign business interests</a>. Zero.</p> </description> <pubDate>Fri, 27 May 2016 10:00:15 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/odesa-mayor-hides-construction-business-offshore/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/odesa-mayor-hides-construction-business-offshore/</guid> </item> <item> <title>People of Azerbaijan Bail out Failed Aliyev Mining Empire</title> <description><p>Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev <a href="https://www.occrp.org/documents/azerbaijan/2016-05-25_Resolution.pdf">ordered the state-owned gold company AzerGold to buy out four mining companies</a>, including at least two owned by his own family. The deal bails the First Family out of a disastrous failed mining venture that had left gold unsold, workers unpaid and their personal companies in deep financial debt.</p> </description> <pubDate>Thu, 26 May 2016 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/people-of-azerbaijan-bail-out-failed-aliyev-mining-empire/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/people-of-azerbaijan-bail-out-failed-aliyev-mining-empire/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Ukraine’s president offshores revisited: Swiss trust and millions moved out of Ukraine</title> <description><p>For six days in April, President Petro Poroshenko and his lawyers repeatedly said that none of the offshore companies Poroshenko set up in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cyprus and the Netherlands have bank accounts or conduct any financial activities.</p> </description> <pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2016 07:00:15 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/ukraines-president-offshores-revisited-swiss-trust-and-millions-moved-out-of-ukraine/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/ukraines-president-offshores-revisited-swiss-trust-and-millions-moved-out-of-ukraine/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Azerbaijan First Family’s London Private Enclave</title> <description><p>With a wide semi-circular entrance hall and doormen in tops-and-tails, the apartment building at 199 Knightsbridge in London is all glass, polished marble, and clean lines. Advertised as an enclave of private residential apartments in the capital’s heart, the penthouse of the prestigious development is yet another home for Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva, daughters of the president of Azerbaijan.</p> </description> <pubDate>Tue, 10 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/azerbaijan-first-familys-london-private-enclave/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/azerbaijan-first-familys-london-private-enclave/</guid> </item> <item> <title>The Source of the Panama Papers Speaks</title> <description><p>Income inequality is one of the defining issues of our time. It affects all of us, the world over. The debate over its sudden acceleration has raged for years, with politicians, academics and activists alike helpless to stop its steady growth despite countless speeches, statistical analyses, a few meagre protests, and the occasional documentary.</p> </description> <pubDate>Fri, 06 May 2016 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/the-source-of-the-panama-papers-speaks/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/the-source-of-the-panama-papers-speaks/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Russia: The Cellist and the Lawyer</title> <description><p>Banking records obtained by OCCRP show that cellist Sergei Roldugin, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s old friend, received money from an offshore company at about the same time it was being used to steal money from the Russian government in the notorious Sergei Magnitsky case.</p> </description> <pubDate>Tue, 26 Apr 2016 13:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/russia-the-cellist-and-the-lawyer/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/russia-the-cellist-and-the-lawyer/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Serbia: See no evil</title> <description><p>In May 2014, lawyers from Budapest, Hungary, needed to arrange a power of attorney for an offshore company related to Serbian businessman Igor Sabo.</p> </description> <pubDate>Wed, 20 Apr 2016 11:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/serbia-see-no-evil/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/serbia-see-no-evil/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Serbian Mayor's Friend Founds Offshores in Emirates</title> <description><p>Serbian businessman Vladimir Delić, who was involved in <a href="https://www.occrp.org/documents/malis-friend-founds-offshores-in-emirates/doc_1.pdf">the 2004 privatization of a railroad parts</a> company along with Belgrade Mayor Siniša Mali and his father, has opened an offshore company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).</p> <aside class=""> <a href="https://www.krik.rs/" target="_blank"><img src="/assets/panamapapers/krik-9ccfa5cf5f8ffacc8d99c22ba8b8d531e066d59c82d1d69ff55cbde7ebfd6845.png" class="large" alt="panamapapers/krik-9ccfa5cf5f8ffacc8d99c22ba8b8d531e066d59c82d1d69ff55cbde7ebfd6845.png" /></a> <div class="caption"> <a href="https://www.krik.rs/" target="_blank"> Visit KRIK's website <i class="fa fa-external-link"></i> </a> </div> </aside> <p>Delić, who left Serbia in 2009, used a UAE company to buy an international shipping company, according to documents recently reviewed by OCCRP partner KRIK.</p> <p>Details about these transactions are buried in the Panama Papers, a trove of internal data of Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian legal firm doing business in offshore tax havens for clients who want to hide their identities and/or holdings.</p> <aside class=" "> <img src="/assets/main-project-images/panamapapers.jpg" class="person" alt="main-project-images/panamapapers.jpg" /> <div class="desc"> <div class="name">The Panama Papers</div> <span class="summary">One of the biggest leaks in journalistic history reveals the secretive offshore companies used to hide wealth, evade taxes and commit fraud by the world's dictators, business tycoons and criminals. </span> <div class="more-info"> <a href="/en/panamapapers/overview/intro/"><i class="fa fa-long-arrow-right"></i> More info</a> </div> </div> </aside> <p>The data was obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and more than 100 media partners from 76 countries, including Serbia’s KRIK.</p> <p>In a telephone interview, Delić told KRIK that he does own the offshores, but said they are not related to Mali. In addition, he denied any wrongdoing in connection with the privatization of Bratstvo, a railroad parts company, that was started by Mali when he was at the privatization agency. Delić said he invested money he had earned previously in his new shipping business.</p> <p>Mali has declined to be interviewed by KRIK reporters.</p> <p>Prior to leaving the country, Delić had a long history in Serbia, including the privatization of Bratstvo, the railroad parts company based in the northern Serbian city of Subotica.</p> <p>His partner in that deal was Mali’s father, Borislav. Just before the sale, Mali had worked as the director of the Center for Tenders in the Agency for Privatization.</p> <aside class=""> <img src="/assets/panamapapers/Panama-Cargo-Lines_management-9ccfa5cf5f8ffacc8d99c22ba8b8d531e066d59c82d1d69ff55cbde7ebfd6845.jpg" class="large" alt="panamapapers/Panama-Cargo-Lines_management-9ccfa5cf5f8ffacc8d99c22ba8b8d531e066d59c82d1d69ff55cbde7ebfd6845.jpg" /> <div class="caption">Panama Cargo Lines management team <small>(Photo: PCL)</small></div> </aside> <p>As <a href="https://www.occrp.org/mayorsstory/a-mayor-helps-a-father/index.html">KRIK/OCCRP reported earlier</a>, a review by a state agency found Mali used insider information from his agency job to edge out foreign competition and help Delić and his father privatize the factory. <a href="https://www.occrp.org/documents/malis-friend-founds-offshores-in-emirates/doc_4.pdf">After the sale, Delić appointed Mali to the Bratstvo board of directors</a>.</p> <p>Over the next few years, workers claim that the partners mismanaged the company and drained money from it, eventually leading to its collapse. After it ran into financial trouble, Delić returned his 51 percent ownership to the state.</p> <p>In 2010, a year after Delić left Serbia, prosecutors launched an investigation into his activities in connection with the Bratstvo privatization.</p> <p><a href="https://www.occrp.org/documents/malis-friend-founds-offshores-in-emirates/doc_2.pdf">The country’s Privatization Agency asked the prosecutor’s office in Subotica to investigate Delić</a> for criminal acts connected with Bratstvo. Its assets had been mortgaged to cover loans worth € 3.7 million from two banks to Delić’s Belgrade-based company Unibros, which in turn was owned by a <a href="https://www.occrp.org/documents/malis-friend-founds-offshores-in-emirates/doc_3.pdf">company with the same name in Cyprus</a> which was co-owned by Delić’s wife.</p> <p>The loans were never repaid and the bank seized Bratstvo’s assets.</p> <p>Delić returned his shares to the state and moved to Cyprus. <a href="https://www.occrp.org/documents/malis-friend-founds-offshores-in-emirates/doc_5.pdf">Last year, after a long investigation, the prosecutor’s office in Subotica declined to prosecute</a>. They gave no explanation as to why.</p> <p>Nothing was known about Delić’s business activities after he left Serbia, until new details emerged in the Panama Papers.</p> <p>The documents reveal that in 2013, Delić moved to Dubai where he established two Dubai-based companies. Through one of these he purchased a Panamanian company that became Panama Cargo Lines Ltd., an international shipping company.</p> <p>At the time Delić was setting up in Dubai, Mali was the chief state negotiator with the UAE on the privatization of the Serbian state airline company (then called Jat Airways but today named Air Serbia) and the construction project Belgrade Waterfront. Reporters for KRIK found no connection between investors from the Emirates and Delić’s company.</p> <h2 id="our-man-in-dubai">Our man in Dubai</h2> <aside class=""> <a href="#" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#lightbox"> <img src="/assets/panamapapers/persons/delic.jpg" class="large" alt="panamapapers/persons/delic.jpg" /></a> <div class="caption">Vladimir Delić</div> <div class="credit"> </div> </aside> <p>E-mails exchanged between Delić’s lawyers and Mossack Fonseca agents show that two years ago, Delić relocated from Cyprus to the Emirates, an offshore jurisdiction where business ownership is not public information. The e-mails show that Delić was behind two UAE companies.</p> <p>In mid-October 2014, a lawyer from the Emirates notified Mossack Fonseca that he represented Delić and said his client wanted to buy a Panama-based international shipping company. In February of 2015, working through Delić’s Dubai-registered VD Holdings Ltd., he bought the Panama-based Julesdale Inc. and changed its name to Panama Cargo Lines Ltd.</p> <p>According to the documents, VD Holdings Ltd. was established on Feb. 17, just three days before taking over what became Panama Cargo.</p> <p>Delić developed his business rapidly. Today, Panama Cargo mainly ships goods from Kuwait to China and controls more than three thousand containers to do so. It has offices in Panama, Singapore and Dubai.</p> <p>The Panama Cargo office in Dubai was inaugurated by Eduardo Fonseca Ward, the son of one of the founders of Mossack Fonseca, who is also the Consul General of The Republic of Panama in Dubai.</p> <p>The Mossack Fonseca emails show that Delić owns one more company in Dubai called Resource Trading, but its purpose is not listed.</p> <h2 id="well-made-cv">Well-made CV</h2> <p>The Panama Papers e-mails show that Delić sent Mossack Fonseca a polished biography with a few notable omissions. By law the Panamanian agency must check out its clients, in theory to prevent questionable people from opening offshore companies.</p> <p>Delić described himself as a successful businessman and manager who studied economics and maritime transport in Croatia and began his career in the 1980s in Yugoimport, a state-owned company in the former Yugoslavia, before going on to another state company, Generalexport (Genex).</p> <p>Then he says he established the Unibros Steel company in Cyprus. This company claims to operate successfully in 37 countries with hundreds of employees, and in 1994 and 1995, while Serbia was under sanctions, it achieved a turnover of US$ 500 million.</p> <p>Delić said in his biography that he was the manager of Bratstvo in Subotica from 2004 to 2009. The bio doesn’t mention that Bratstvo was bankrupted, or detail the connections between the company and Delić and Mali’s family, or note that Delić himself was under investigation at the time he sent his biography.</p> <h2 id="deli-talks-to-krik">Delić Talks to KRIK</h2> <p>KRIK reporters reached Delić at his Cypriot number.</p> <p>At first he was upset and only spoke briefly with reporters. A few hours later, he called the newsroom back and calmly answered questions.</p> <p>The journalists confirmed the information from leaked documents and e-mails. He said he owns both companies from Dubai and that one, through the Panamanian company, is engaged in overseas shipping. He said the second, Resource Trading, trades steel.</p> <p>“I opened a company in Dubai because I believe that this is a good place to do business. I live between Dubai and Cyprus,” Delić said. He said it is normal to do business through offshore companies in the Emirates, Panama and Cyprus.</p> <p>“It’s all business. There are thousands companies in Panama like mine. When I opened the Panamanian company, many famous people around the world came there, the Panamanian Consul was there too,” Delić said, explaining that he invested money he earned during his long career as a businessman in the shipping venture.</p> <p>He said Mali and his family have nothing to do with his activities in the Emirates and described them as great friends. “I have known (Borislav) Mali for 28 years. We are very good friends. I knew Siniša while he was studying. He is a capable guy. Siniša did not help me to buy Bratstvo,” Delić said.</p> <p>He denied any wrongdoing in the Bratstvo privatization.</p> <blockquote> <p>“It has nothing to do with it and it is ridiculous to me. If you find one US dollar that went from Bratstvo to Cyprus, I am ready to go right to jail,” Delić said.</p> </blockquote> <p>He claims he actually suffered losses in the privatization, blaming the “Hungarian lobby,” government officials, and the state-owned company Serbian Railways for working against him.</p> <p>“I’m a very successful businessman who came to Serbia, had invested money and immediately fell into the mud. I got out of that mud by returning the factory,” Delić said.</p> </div> <!-- .occrp-story --> <div class="occrp-full-width"> <div class="image" style="background-image: url('/assets/panamapapers/Sinisa-Mali-beograd.rs.jpg')"></div> <div class="caption">Siniša Mali <small>(Photo: Beograd.rs)</small></div> </div> <div class="occrp-story"> <h2 id="mali">Mali</h2> <p>Mali, like Delić, has extensive experience in setting up offshore companies.</p> <p>KRIK reporters discovered four offshore companies connected to Mali registered in the British Virgin Islands between 2004 and 2011.</p> <p>The two companies authorized Mali to buy luxury apartments on behalf of companies on the Bulgarian coast in 2012 and 2013. The third company illegally obtained 10 hectares of state owned land in Vršac by Mali. The purpose of the fourth company could not be determined.</p> <p>Three of these companies are registered at Trident Trust and the fourth at Morgan and Morgan, both global services firms that handle offshore companies. No data about them was found in Mossack Fonseca’s Panama Papers.</p> </description> <pubDate>Wed, 20 Apr 2016 11:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/malis-friend-founds-offshores-in-emirates/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/malis-friend-founds-offshores-in-emirates/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Lithuanian ex-Football Head Exposed in Offshores</title> <description><p>Liutauras Varanavičius, the former president of the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF), owned a shell company allegedly involved in multi-million deals with businesses belonging to Vladimir Romanov, a banker now living in Russia who is wanted by Lithuanian law enforcement.</p> </description> <pubDate>Thu, 14 Apr 2016 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/lithuanian-ex-football-head-exposed-in-offshores/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/lithuanian-ex-football-head-exposed-in-offshores/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Moldova: The Offshore Connection of an ex-PM</title> <description><script src="//assets.documentcloud.org/viewer/loader.js"></script> </description> <pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2016 17:50:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/moldova-the-offshore-connection-of-an-ex-pm/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/moldova-the-offshore-connection-of-an-ex-pm/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Panama Papers: The Czech Republic</title> <description><p>Money laundering and tax evasion appear to be two reasons Czech citizens establish companies in offshore destinations.</p> </description> <pubDate>Mon, 11 Apr 2016 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/the-czech-republic/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/the-czech-republic/</guid> </item> <item> <title>The General: An Armenian Master of Offshores</title> <description><p>Mihran Poghosyan holds two impressive titles: Major General of Justice, and Armenia’s Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer. He could add a third to that: Master of Offshores.</p> </description> <pubDate>Fri, 08 Apr 2016 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/armenian-master-of-offshores/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/armenian-master-of-offshores/</guid> </item> <item> <title>The Art of Secrecy</title> <description><p>Locked in the files of a Panama law firm are the answers to mysteries involving Van Goghs, Picassos, Rembrandts and other masterworks.</p> </description> <pubDate>Thu, 07 Apr 2016 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/the-art-of-secrecy/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/the-art-of-secrecy/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Murder by Poison Is Only One Clue To Offshore Dealings by Top Chinese</title> <description><p>For months, Gu Kailai <a href="http://www.newster.co/?news=245087#news=245087">worried</a> about a secret that threatened to upend her comfortable life and stop her husband’s climb to the top rungs of China’s political leadership. So she took action.</p> </description> <pubDate>Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/china-murder-by-poison/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/china-murder-by-poison/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Russia: How to Structure a Deal, Russian Style</title> <description><p>Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin goes back a long way with his friend, Sergei Chemezov.</p> </description> <pubDate>Thu, 07 Apr 2016 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/russia-how-to-structure-a-deal-russian-style/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/russia-how-to-structure-a-deal-russian-style/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Slovenia: Steroid King Pumps Up with Offshores</title> <description><p>Prosecutors in the US say Slovenian Mihael Karner is a major dealer in anabolic steroids, who since 2000 has pulled in more than US$ 50 million by illegal sales over the internet, using a global network of websites and intermediaries in the United Kingdom (UK) and Italy among other countries.</p> </description> <pubDate>Wed, 06 Apr 2016 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/slovenia-steroid-king-pumps-up-with-offshores/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/slovenia-steroid-king-pumps-up-with-offshores/</guid> </item> <item> <title>The Offshore Refinery </title> <description><p>Israeli Benjamin Steinmetz, 60, is by any definition rich, with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at more than US$ 1 billion.</p> </description> <pubDate>Wed, 06 Apr 2016 13:59:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/the-offshorer-refinery/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/the-offshorer-refinery/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Spies and Shadowy Allies Lurk in Secret Thanks to Firm’s Bag of Tricks</title> <description><p>One day during his presidential re-election campaign in September 1996, Bill Clinton walked into a room in Westin Crown Center hotel in Kansas City, Mo. At stake was a quarter-million dollars in campaign fundraising. Clinton turned to his generous host, Farhad Azima, and led the guests in song.</p> </description> <pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2016 17:59:57 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/spies-and-shadowy-allies/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/spies-and-shadowy-allies/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Wringing Profits from the Russian Railways</title> <description><p>Aleksey Krapivin, the son of a close associate of Vladimir Yakunin, the former president of Russian Railways, runs a business empire built with state contracts that control several hundred million rubles in government funds spent on railroads in Russia.</p> </description> <pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2016 15:59:59 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/wringing-profits-from-the-russian-railways/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/wringing-profits-from-the-russian-railways/</guid> </item> <item> <title>A high-profile Russian partner of Ukraine’s top banker</title> <description><p>The second-largest state-owned bank in Russia, VTB, is on very good terms with the Kremlin. It has been sanctioned by the US and European Union (EU) for Russia’s annexation of Crimea.</p> </description> <pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2016 13:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/high-profile-russian-partner-of-ukraines-top-banker/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/high-profile-russian-partner-of-ukraines-top-banker/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Serbia: Local Businessmen show in Leaked Data</title> <description><p>Serbian businessmen are well represented in the records of Mossack Fonseca, a firm based in the offshore tax haven of Panama that helps clients worldwide avoid scrutiny and taxes.</p> <aside class=" "> <img src="/assets/main-project-images/panamapapers.jpg" class="person" alt="main-project-images/panamapapers.jpg" /> <div class="desc"> <div class="name">The Panama Papers</div> <span class="summary">One of the biggest leaks in journalistic history reveals the secretive offshore companies used to hide wealth, evade taxes and commit fraud by the world's dictators, business tycoons and criminals. </span> <div class="more-info"> <a href="/en/panamapapers/overview/intro/"><i class="fa fa-long-arrow-right"></i> More info</a> </div> </div> </aside> <p>Details about their activities are buried in the Panama Papers, a trove of Mossack Fonseca’s internal data obtained by the German newspaper <a href="http://www.sueddeutsche.de/">Süddeutsche Zeitung</a> and shared by the <a href="https://icij.org">International Consortium of Investigative Journalists</a> (ICIJ) with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and more than 100 media partners from 76 countries.</p> <aside class=""> <a href="https://www.krik.rs/"><img src="/assets/panamapapers/krik-9ccfa5cf5f8ffacc8d99c22ba8b8d531e066d59c82d1d69ff55cbde7ebfd6845.png" class="large" alt="panamapapers/krik-9ccfa5cf5f8ffacc8d99c22ba8b8d531e066d59c82d1d69ff55cbde7ebfd6845.png" /></a> <div class="caption"><a href="https://www.krik.rs/">Visit KRIK's website <i class="fa fa-external-link" aria-hidden="true"></i></a></div> </aside> <p>One of those partners is <a href="https://www.krik.rs/">KRIK.rs</a>, an OCCRP partner based in Belgrade. Reporters from KRIK spent months poring over the Mossack Fonseca data to unearth the stories that various Serbian individuals went to a lot of trouble to conceal.</p> <p>The following is a list of the major names contained in the database, with a summary of their activities. In the coming weeks KRIK will publish stories that show in greater detail just what some of these businessman were up to.</p> <p><strong>Vladimir Delić</strong>, a close business partner of Belgrade Mayor Siniša Mali, appears in the Mossack Fonseca data as the owner of several offshore companies.</p> <p>In 2003, when Mali worked for Serbia’s privatization agency, he <a href="https://www.occrp.org/mayorsstory/a-mayor-helps-a-father/index.html">helped his father and Delić to privatize Bratstvo</a>, a producer of railway equipment. The company eventually went bankrupt and workers lost their jobs. He was under investigation by the Serbian authorities, but the prosecutor dropped criminal charges. Delić pledged assets of the privatized company so his Cypriot company Unibros could raise a loan of about EUR 3.7 million (US $4.1 million).</p> <aside class=" "> <img src="/assets/panamapapers/persons/delic.jpg" class="person" alt="panamapapers/persons/delic.jpg" /> <div class="desc"> <div class="name">Vladimir Delić</div> <span class="summary">Business partner of Belgrade Mayor Siniša Mali</span> </div> </aside> <p>According to Mossack Fonseca records, Delić is now back in the game, establishing two companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2014 and 2015. Through one of them he owns a Panamanian company that deals with trans-oceanic shipping.</p> <p>The controversial mayor of Belgrade Siniša Mali did not use Mossack Fonseca for the firms he has previously registered, but rather another offshore services provider.</p> <p>Journalists from KRIK, however, found that Mali worked with Mark Harrison, a representative of Mossack Fonseca in Serbia, more than ten years ago. At that time Mali worked for Agency for Privatization and Harrison was hired by the agency as a consultant in the privatization of the fuel company Beopetrol. Beopetrol was sold to Russian Lukoil, in a transaction the Anticorruption council called corrupt.</p> <p>According to documents from Mossack Fonseca, KRIK’s discovery seemed to upset Harrison.</p> <p>A week after KRIK published a story on Mali, he sent an email to the headquarters of Mossack Fonseca and asked about the companies in which he was director. He insisted that he be immediately answered.</p> <p>Harrison notes that Mali <a href="https://www.occrp.org/mayorsstory/The-Mayors-Hidden-Property/index.html">was appointed director of offshore companies</a> Brigham Holding &amp; Finance Inc and Etham Invest &amp; Finance Corp. during July and August 2011 and asked for the current status of these companies. The two companies <a href="https://www.occrp.org/mayorsstory/The-Mayors-Hidden-Property/index.html">were used to buy controversial apartments</a> on the Bulgarian coast.</p> <p>The agency responded that Siniša Mali is not their client and that they do not have access to documentation because Mali used Trident Trust Company to register his companies. The Panamanian database also shows that businessman <strong>Igor Szabo</strong>, who for the last decade has been investigated for various financial crimes, has been using the services of Mossack Fonseca to set up webs of offshores since early 2000s.</p> <p>Prosecutors say Szabo used his companies to drain money out of privatized companies. He was charged for the abuse of power in the Azotara case, and he also closely cooperated with <strong>Zoran Ćopić</strong>, who was convicted in Bosnia and Herzegovina of laundering cocaine profits for the Darko Sarić’s gang.</p> <p>Mossack Fonseca agents, according to their internal email communications, knew about Szabo’s alleged involvement in crime. The Panamanian firms due-diligence department turned up an <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/2319-serbia-officials-ignored-red-flags-in-azotara-case">OCCRP article</a> detailing the criminal charges facing Szabo. That was seemingly no problem for the agents, who decided to continue working with him after he provided a power of attorney to a woman employee.</p> <p>Szabo told the reporters of KRIK’s that he did not own the companies established with “Mossack Fonesca,” but that he was merely a representative. He explained that they were set up to commercialize artificial fertilizers with Slovakia and South Africa, but did not have any business in Serbia.</p> <p>Some big names show up in the Mossack Fonseca database, which reveals some new details about an old case from the 1990s, when dictator <strong>Slobodan Milošević</strong> and his associates used offshore companies to steal more than a billion deutsche marks from Serbia.</p> <p>The newly released documents reveal that Serbian businessmen <strong>Zoran Drakulić</strong> was the attorney for a company which controlled another company through which part of the stolen money disappeared.</p> <p><strong>Vuk Hamović</strong>, a energy broker in the Balkans, cooperated with Drakulić in another business deal, the offshore records show.</p> <aside class=" "> <img src="/assets/panamapapers/persons/hamovic.jpg" class="person" alt="panamapapers/persons/hamovic.jpg" /> <div class="desc"> <div class="name">Vuk Hamović</div> <span class="summary">Balkan energy broker</span> </div> </aside> <p><strong>Slobodan Anđić</strong>, an alleged close friend of Milošević, in 2012 became the director of an offshore company registered in BVI.</p> <p>Businessman <strong>Vojin Lazarević</strong> also appears in the database. His Serbian company, Rudnap Group AD, established a company called Giralia Resources Limited in 2007 in the Seychelles tax haven, but it is unknown what this company does.</p> <p><strong>Srđan Šaper</strong>, a major player in Serbia’s advertising business, has been called one of Serbia’s most powerful media executives by the Blic news organization. The Mossack Fonseca documents indicate he used offshore companies to send about € 3 million out of Serbia which he earned by selling advertising space on the biggest Serbian TV channels, RTS and PINK. The database details how this was managed.</p> <aside class=" "> <img src="/assets/panamapapers/persons/saper.jpg" class="person" alt="panamapapers/persons/saper.jpg" /> <div class="desc"> <div class="name">Srđan Šaper</div> <span class="summary">One of Serbia's most powerful media executives</span> </div> </aside> <p><strong>Russian interests in Serbia</strong> can be seen in financial transactions hidden behind offshores. Behind a web of companies, Serbian businessman <strong>Milan Popović</strong> formed a partnership with a Russian tycoon close to Putin, Konstantin Malofeev.</p> <aside class=" "> <img src="/assets/panamapapers/persons/popovic.png" class="person" alt="panamapapers/persons/popovic.png" /> <div class="desc"> <div class="name">Milan Popović</div> <span class="summary">Serbian businessman who set up a partnership with a Russian tycoon close to Putin</span> </div> </aside> <p>Another Russian businessman, <strong>Igor Rotenberg</strong>, used offshores to buy shares in the privatized Serbian construction company, PPT Inzinjering (Engineering).</p> <p>Both Malofeev and Rotenberg’s father, Arkadiy Rotenberg (a close friend to Putin and the largest state contractor in Russia), are listed on the European Union (EU) sanction list. The database also contains other examples of Russians buying companies in Serbia behind offshores.</p> <p><strong>Filip Zepter</strong>, one of Serbia’s wealthiest businessmen, shows up in the database. He cooperated with Alain Bionda, a lawyer and oil trader from Switzerland. Bionda, according to a United Nations report, was involved in illegal oil transactions with Iraq. Bionda was in contact with Mossack Fonseca office to set up offshore companies for Zepter and also served as director in some Zepter companies. Zepter had companies in BVI, Panama and Cyprus.</p> <aside class=" "> <img src="/assets/panamapapers/persons/cepter.jpg" class="person" alt="panamapapers/persons/cepter.jpg" /> <div class="desc"> <div class="name">Filip Cepter</div> <span class="summary">One of Serbia’s wealthiest businessmen</span> </div> </aside> <p><strong>Miodrag Kostić</strong>, a top Serbian businessman engaged in agriculture and banking, appears in the database as participating in the transfer of €368.000 (US $510,000) between two offshore companies in 2008. One of those companies held shares in AIK bank, which Kostić controls.</p> <aside class=" "> <img src="/assets/panamapapers/persons/kostic.jpg" class="person" alt="panamapapers/persons/kostic.jpg" /> <div class="desc"> <div class="name">Miodrag Kostić</div> <span class="summary">A top Serbian businessman engaged in agriculture and banking</span> </div> </aside> <p><strong>Predrag Lučić</strong>, who owns Serbia’s Lučić Invest and Panonka AD, also appears in the database. He founded two offshore companies, in the Seychelles, LP Line Investment and Bluering Ltd. There are no details on what these companies do. Lučić told reporters of KRIK’s that these two companies didn’t do any business. He established them with the intention to invest in Africa, but he changed his mind because Africa was not yet a safe to invest.</p> <p>Pilots <strong>Slobodan Stričević</strong> and <strong>Đorđe Jovanović</strong>, who are linked to cigarette smuggling in Montenegro and Italy, in 2009 established an offshore company, DSP Jet Co Ltd. in the Seychelles. The purpose of this company is unknown. Stričević and Jovanović also own the Serbian airtaxi company Prince Aviation, which is listed in an Italian indictment as one of the companies used for transfering profits from cigarette smuggling by Italian organized crime groups with protection from Montenegrin state officials.</p> <p>A second pilot in the database is <strong>Vladimir Banjac</strong>, who formerly flew for the state-owned company JAT and who performed several emergency landings and was dubbed a hero by Serbian media. Banjac and and his business partner established an offshore company named Nanoinspekt Solutions Limited in the Seychelles in November of 2014. Just few months earlier, their Belgrade-based company with the similar name won a tender, making it the only company in Serbia with a license to make sure fuel comes from a legal supplier. The database shows that the Serbian steel plant <strong>Železara Smederevo</strong> signed a contract in 2013 with a BVI company that was controlled by a group of Ukrainians who were investigated by the BVI financial agency for money laundering and suspected in Ukraine of smuggling coal.</p> <p>In 2014 <strong>Ljiljana Mišković</strong>, the wife of Serbian businessman Miroslav Mišković, used a middleman to ask Mossack Fonseca agents to establish an offshore company for her, intended to deal with low-risk investments..</p> <p>Database records indicate that Serbian fashion designer <strong>Roksanda Ilinić</strong>, whose creations are worn by US First Lady Michelle Obama and Dutchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton owned an offshore company called Greenland Property Limited, which partialy owns a company in Serbia which was used to sell computers to state agencies and later consulting.</p> <p>Serbian construction engineer <strong>Zoran Florić</strong> established an offshore company called B&amp;R Expert Company LTD in the BVI in 2010.</p> <aside class=" "> <img src="/assets/panamapapers/persons/floric.gif" class="person" alt="panamapapers/persons/floric.gif" /> <div class="desc"> <div class="name">Zoran Florić</div> <span class="summary">A Serbian construction engineer</span> </div> </aside> <p>Also in the Mossack Fonseca files is a businessman from Jordan, <strong>Abdrabou Yousef Shaker Dahlan</strong>, who is the brother of <strong>Muhamed Dahlan</strong>, a Palestinian who holds a Serbian passport and is close to Serbia’s prime minister. Abdrabou established the offshore company, Al Yasmeen Company Limited in 2011, with his wife in the BVI to carry out asset management in the United Kingdom.</p> <p><strong>Nandi Ahuja</strong>, an Indian businessman and organizer of fancy parties in London who does business in Serbia, also appears in the database. He is a member of the supervisory board of one of the best-known Serbian agricultural companies, the Victoria Group. The leaked docments show that he also co-owns an offshore company in the Bahamas, but it is not clear what its purpose is.</p> <p>Ahuja stated that his company does investments, but did not specify what and where. He added that his company has never operated in Serbia or with people from Serbia, as well as that it operates legally.</p> </description> <pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2016 12:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/serbian-businessmen-in-leaked-data/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/serbian-businessmen-in-leaked-data/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Parade of the Blacklisted Marches Through Firm’s Client List — and Syria’s Civil War</title> <description><p>One morning in mid-2014, before the summer sun had reached its peak, two elderly men in Aleppo, Syria, sat on plastic chairs, chatting quietly and drinking black coffee. From his perch outside his food stall, Sabri Wahid Asfur and his friend Abu Yassin watched their neighbors go about their day.</p> </description> <pubDate>Mon, 04 Apr 2016 18:50:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/parade-of-the-blacklisted/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/parade-of-the-blacklisted/</guid> </item> <item> <title>How Family that Runs Azerbaijan Built an Empire of Hidden Wealth</title> <description><p>On <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2003/nov/01/world/fg-briefs1">October 31, 2003</a>, Ilham Aliyev, the newly elected president of Azerbaijan, stood behind a podium and a <a href="http://lib.aliyev-heritage.org/en/2773818.html">profusion of white flowers</a> to address <a href="http://lib.aliyev-heritage.org/en/2773818.html">presidents, prime ministers</a> and <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2003/nov/01/world/fg-briefs1">2,000 other guests</a> assembled at the Respublika Palace. First touching the constitution and then the Koran, Aliyev <a href="http://www.azembass.ua.8m.com/whats_new.html">swore to serve his people</a>. That night, <a href="http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai114_folder/114_articles/114_ilham_inauguration.html">fireworks lit up the sky</a> of the Azeri capital, Baku.</p> </description> <pubDate>Mon, 04 Apr 2016 17:59:59 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/azerbaijani-first-familys-hidden-wealth/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/azerbaijani-first-familys-hidden-wealth/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Aliyevs Seek Five Gold Fields in Kyrgyzstan</title> <description><p>In late August 2012, around 50 protesters blocked the first-ever attempt of the Kyrgyz government to sell the country’s mineral deposits through an open tender. Protesters, many wearing traditional Kyrgyz felt hats, stormed a television studio shortly before the scheduled live broadcast shouting: “We won’t let you sell our motherland!”</p> </description> <pubDate>Mon, 04 Apr 2016 17:59:58 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/aliyevs-seek-five-gold-fields-in-kyrgyzstan/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/aliyevs-seek-five-gold-fields-in-kyrgyzstan/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Aliyevs’ Secret Mining Empire</title> <description><p>At the end of a hard month of work, Jumshud Asgerli, a 46-year-old geologist, war veteran and father of three, was crestfallen when he did not receive his expected salary from the Azerbaijani gold mine where he worked. Soon after, he was among 300 other employees that got an email informing them they were taking a mandatory two-month vacation.</p> </description> <pubDate>Mon, 04 Apr 2016 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/aliyev-mining-empire/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/aliyev-mining-empire/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Kazakhstan: President’s Grandson Hid Assets Offshore</title> <description><p>In January 2016, as the Kazakh economy was reeling from falling oil prices, its currency lost more than half its value. To meet the needs of the country’s social programs for the rest of the year, the government would need to use at least 12 percent of the National Fund, a hefty reserve fund of <a href="https://cdn.occrp.org/projects/panamapapers/kazakhstan/National Fund of Kazakhstan as of Jan 2016.pdf" class="document" target="_blank"><i class="fa fa-file-o"></i> nearly US$ 62 billion</a> earned from oil, gas and metals.</p> </description> <pubDate>Mon, 04 Apr 2016 09:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/kazakh-presidents-grandson-offshores/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/kazakh-presidents-grandson-offshores/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Ukraine: The President’s Offshore Tax Plan</title> <description><p>When Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ran for the top office in 2014, he promised voters he would sell Roshen, Ukraine’s largest candy business, so he could devote his full attention to running the country.</p> </description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:00:15 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/ukraine-poroshenko-offshore/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/ukraine-poroshenko-offshore/</guid> </item> <item> <title>The Secret Caretaker</title> <description><p>As he walked on stage last week for a performance of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, it was clear he was special. The casual black satin shirt and outdated hair gave him an air of nonchalance, but the musicians stood and the crowd applauded with respect.</p> </description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:00:05 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/the-secret-caretaker/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/the-secret-caretaker/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption</title> <description><p>A massive leak of documents exposes the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and reveals how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin <a href="/en/panamapapers/the-secret-caretaker/">secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion</a> through banks and shadow companies. The leak also provides details of the hidden financial dealings of 128 more politicians and public officials around the world.</p> </description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:00:05 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/overview/intro/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/overview/intro/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Offshore Company Spent 3 Years Chasing Ivanishvili's Passport</title> <description><p>TBILISI, REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA – Bidzina Ivanishvili’s wealth is not all hidden away in vaults. His 108,000 square foot glass house perches on a hill above the capital city of the country he returned to rule as prime minister, after leaving for neighboring Russia as a young man and accumulating billions of dollars before moving back to Georgia in 2004.</p> </description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:00:05 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/georgia-ivanishvili-offshore/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/georgia-ivanishvili-offshore/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Leak Ties Ethics Guru to Three Men Charged in FIFA Scandal</title> <description><p>Leaked documents reveal that the law firm of a FIFA ethics watchdog had business relationships with three men who have been indicted in the world soccer association’s corruption scandal.</p> </description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:00:05 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/ethics-guru-ties-to-fifa-scandal/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/ethics-guru-ties-to-fifa-scandal/</guid> </item> <item> <title>The Russian Offshore Patriots</title> <description><!-- <aside class=" "> <img src="/assets/main-project-images/panamapapers.jpg" class="person" alt="main-project-images/panamapapers.jpg"> <div class="desc"> <div class="name">The Panama Papers</div> <span class="summary">One of the biggest leaks in journalistic history reveals the secretive offshore companies used to hide wealth, evade taxes and commit fraud by the world's dictators, business tycoons and criminals. </span> <div class="more-info"> <a href="/en/panamapapers/overview/intro/"><i class="fa fa-long-arrow-right"></i> More info</a> </div> </div> </aside> --> </description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:00:01 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/russian-offshore-patriots/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/russian-offshore-patriots/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Kyiv Post owner Caught Up in Late 1990s Scandal</title> <description><p>Mohammad Zahoor, a Ukraine-based British millionaire of Pakistani origin, was caught up in a far-reaching investigation in 1998 by Ukrainian investigators examining whether politicians Yulia Tymoshenko and Pavlo Lazarenko might have worked together to control the gas industry in Ukraine.</p> </description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/kyiv-post-owner-in-late-1990s-scandal/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/kyiv-post-owner-in-late-1990s-scandal/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Russia: A High Official goes Offshore</title> <description><p>The man who was once the deputy director of the body responsible for seeing that daily life ran smoothly for Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin secretly owned an offshore company in Panama for five years, unloading it only when a law was passed in 2013 specifically banning the practice.</p> </description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/high-russian-official-offshore/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/high-russian-official-offshore/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Czech Republic: Financial Log-Rolling Via Offshore Companies</title> <description><p>A collection of documents leaked from a secretive offshores services firm in Panama shines a light on how some Czech business operatives were clandestinely linked to others in some of the country’s more notorious financial scandals.</p> </description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/czech-old-touch/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/czech-old-touch/</guid> </item> <item> <title>Czech Republic: The Million-Dollar Prosecutor</title> <description><p>Josef Monsport is the sort of man who knows on which side his bread is buttered.</p> </description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:00:00 +0000</pubDate> <link>https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/czech-anti-jazz-prosecutor/</link> <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/czech-anti-jazz-prosecutor/</guid> </item> </channel> </rss>