The director of a French language website and an independent journalist were convicted in a in Niger court on Monday for reporting about the findings of a Swiss-based NGO which claimed Niger to be a major hub for West African hashish traffickers who are colluding with military and political leaders.

Swedish prosecutors indicted on Tuesday the former CEO of Swedbank with aggravated swindling for downplaying suspected massive money-laundering through the bank’s operations in the Baltic states.

A Greek journalist union condemned the court summoning of a reporter who claims to be targeted by authorities for exposing officials believed to have received bribes from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis and for writing about wealthy people suspected of evading taxes.

The U.N. is set to begin negotiations between its member states to establish legal instruments to confront the growing scourge of cybercrime, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime announced, adding that the discussion could be tough as countries have different ideas of what constitutes a cybercrime.

A U.K. court sent two men behind bars for a total of 33 years for laundering the equivalent of nearly US$95 million and fraudulently claimed $13.44 million in COVID-19 Bounce Back Loans for their fake companies, the National Crime Agency reported.

The cost of fraudulent COVID-19 relief claims in the United States have surpassed US$100 billion, according to a statement put out by the U.S. Secret Service last week. That’s around 3% of the total funding allocated by the government to COVID relief.

Carrying a makeshift headstone with “Independent Media” written on it, a small group of journalists protested on Friday against a new media law, which they see as unconstitutional, further limiting independent journalism and violating human rights.

Spanish authorities arrested on Thursday 19 people suspected of being part of a transnational crime ring involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women.

A U.K. court sent a London-based crime group behind bars for a total of 35 years for trying to illegally bring 69 Albanian migrants into the country, and plotting to smuggle 50 people in every week, the National Crime Agency reported on Tuesday.

A Swedish court cleared on Wednesday a former business area manager at engineering giant Bombardier of corruption charges, arguing that prosecutors could not prove that Thomas Bimer offered a multimillion dollar bribe to secure a railway deal in Azerbaijan.