The OCCRP (acronym in English for the Corruption and Organized Crime Reporting Project) hid the extent of its ties with the United States Government, according to an investigation by Mediapart (France), Drop Site News (USA), Il Fatto Quotidiano (Italy), Reporters United (Greece) and public radio NDR (Germany).
Founded in 2006 and specialized in organized crime and corruption, the OCCRP It is the largest global network of journalists and investigative media in the world. However, according to the investigation of the aforementioned newspapers, The US Government contributes half of its budget, has the right to veto its management personnel and finances research focused on Russia and Venezuela.
Yann Philippin, who writes the investigative report together with Stefan Candea in Mediaparthas denounced on its X account that “the largest investigative media network in the world”, responsible for the Panama Papers“has hidden from the public and its media partners the extent of its ties to the United States Government.”
Edwy Plenelco-founder of Mediapart, also echoes in said social network “the hidden links of a journalism giant with the United States Government.”
Plenel summarizes in a post the “five facts that reveal the dependence of the largest journalistic investigation consortium on the US Government”, revelations that he considers “painful but necessary.”
“A soldier and senior American official, a former colonel in the reserve and now a member of the secret services, was at the origin of the first financing of the OCCRP,” says the former director of Mediapartwho adds that the United States Government “still provides half of the OCCRP budget to this day.”
“Part of its financing comes from the Judicial and Police Cooperation Service of the United States Department of Foreign Affairs,” details the French journalist, who emphasizes that Washington “has veto power over the leaders of the OCCRP.”
Therefore, “the OCCRP cannot investigate USA with the money paid by the main world power, while some financing is directed to countries that are enemies of US diplomacy [como Rusia o Venezuela]”concludes the founder of Mediapartwhose research can be read in full here.
In the report, the authors explain how the journalist Drew Sullivan founded OCCRP in 2006 in Sarajevo to carry out investigations into organized crime and corruption in the Balkans,
Over the years it became, in Sullivan’s own words, “the largest investigative journalism organization on the planet”: twenty million euros budgeta staff of 200 people on all continents, prestigious partners such as The New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Der Spiegel either Le Mondeand investigations that shook the planet, from the Panama Papers to the Pandora Papers, including Suisse Secrets, Narco Files, Cyprus Confidential and Laundromat, among many others.
However, as Mediapart denounces, the “counterpart” to the independence it boasts is “a position of structural dependence on the US Government”, for which the directors of the OCCRP are held responsible.
“Our investigation reveals that the OCCRP was created thanks to the financial support of the Office of International Narcotics Affairs and United States Law Enforcement. Today, Washington provides approximately half of OCCRP’s budget and has the power to veto the nomination of key personnel at the NGO,” he denounces. Mediapart.
Although it indicates on its website that it receives funding from the United States Department of State and, in particular, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the OCCRP “hides from its media partners, journalists and the general public the scope of the funding and the conditions that come with it,” he says. Mediapart. Or what is the same: “U.S. Government funding is never mentioned in the articles produced by the OCCRP.”
“Our revelations are based mainly on public documents and filmed interviews granted to [la radio pública alemana] NDR by Drew Sullivan and several senior US officials,” explain the authors of the research.
#investigation #OCCRP #journalistic #network #hidden #true #financing
