Transnational organized crime is “an acute and devastating threat” to the United States as it’s causing thousands of drug overdose deaths, fosters corruption and decreases citizen’s confidence in government and banks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.

A London court sentenced the former partner of the Monaco-based oil and gas consultancy Unaoil to three years and four months in jail for bribing Iraqi officials to secure contracts worth some US$1.7 billion in post-occupation Iraq.

In two massive pan-continental operations against human trafficking and labour exploitation, law enforcement in 19 European countries checked thousands of people, locations and vehicles, and identified 535 potential victims and 193 suspects, Europol said.

A group of Kyrgyz parliamentarians elected a former lawmaker as the country’s new prime minister on Saturday, days after his supporters freed him from prison during anti-government protests that erupted after last Sunday’s elections.

Cyprus will begin the process of revoking passports belonging to seven individuals who obtained them by submitting false information on their applications for the country’s Citizenship by Investment Program, according to a Wednesday government press release. 

Thousands South African workers and representatives of unions staged a countrywide general strike and hit the streets on Wednesday, demanding a stronger fight against rampant corruption which they say causes “more job losses, more poverty and more unemployment.”

The anger over a disputed election result that culminated in a violent uprising on Monday turned by Thursday into confusion after election officials declared the Sunday vote void, leaving Kyrgyzstan in a power vacuum.

As the coronavirus pandemic forced many to work from home, criminals seem to have adapted to the new situation and are also increasingly working remotely and causing an upward trend in cyber crime, according to Europol's Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment, IOCTA, for 2020. 

In what is being described as a landmark case, the U.K.’s National Crime Agency, NCA, relied on an Unexplained Wealth Order to seize millions in property and assets from a businessman with alleged ties to organized crime. 

Despite its status as one of the world’s most secretive and low tax jurisdictions, the European Council announced on Tuesday that it has delisted the Cayman Islands from the EU’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes – informally known as its tax haven blacklist.