Bulgaria’s Prime Minister-Elect Boyko Borisov was swept into office July 5th by a large margin after he promised to fight crime and corruption. But as the European Commission is set to release another report Wednesday citing Bulgaria’s failure to fight high-level corruption, assassinations on the streets of Sofia and an anemic judiciary, old concerns have reemerged regarding Borisov’s possible ties to the country’s underworld.
Romanian Stefan Candeahonored for investigative work.
Stefan Candea, a founding member of the Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism, has been awarded a special mention from The Central European Initiative (CEI) and the South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO) for his valuable contributions to investigation reporting.
A top Swiss court on Wednesday acquitted seven of nine defendants in one of the largest cigarette-smuggling cases to ever come to trial.
The Federal Criminal Court convicted two defendants of supporting a criminal organization, but cleared the others on charges of being part of a criminal enterprise that had smuggled cigarettes from Montenegro to Italy, and used Switzerland to launder more than $1 billion in proceeds.
A Bulgarian counterfeiting ring accused of distributing more than €16 million in fake euro notes since 2005 was smashed by Bulgarian police, Spain’s financial police and Europol said last week.
Russian authorities begin shutting down casinos and gambling halls across the country Wednesday and some casino magnates say they may move operations to sites in the Balkans, reports Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.
Naser Oric, the wartime commander of Bosnian forces in Srebrenica, was sentenced by a Sarajevo court Wednesday to two years in prison for illegal possession of weapons and explosives. He was acquitted, however, of extortion charges. The sentence will include time he has already spent in custody.
New developments in the murder of Ivo Pukanić include arrests, a potential informant and reports of threats against the witness. OCCRP reported in April on the arrest of Sreten Jocić, aka Joca Amsterdam, in connection with the bombing assassination of Pukanić, publisher of Croatia’s Nacional, and his marketing director.
The production and use of synthetic drugs – ecstasy, amphetamines and methamphetamines – is feared to be increasing in the developing world, while worldwide markets for cocaine, opiates and cannabis are steady or in decline, according to an annual UN drug report released this month.
A Senate committee last week heard testimony on a bill that would require private corporations to disclose their owners, in the latest move that involves proposed legislation that has circulated through Congress in some version for nearly 10 years.
Trafficking in persons – for labor, sexual servitude and organ harvesting – may spike because of the worldwide recession, according to the US State Department’s annual human trafficking report released June 16.
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