The Center for Public Integrity

Members of the U.S. Congress are concerned that military aid to Colombia could be used to violate human rights, and they cite a recent incident as a case in point.

Steve Bradshaw and Mike Robinson won the 1999 International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting for a BBC documentary exposing deliberate international inaction to stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

COLOMBA, Sri Lanka, January 12, 2000 — This article was originally published in the January 12 edition of Jane's Defence Weekly. It is reproduced with permission from Jane's Information Group.

From all outward appearances, Boris Avramovich Goldstein is a model immigrant, a successful businessman in the San Francisco Bay area, where he lives in a $1.2 million home and where he founded a variety of firms.

TEL AVIV, Israel, December 1, 1999 — This article was originally published in Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper on December 1, 1999. It is reprinted here with permission.

Liechtenstein residents are amazed at what dubious financial transactions can be found in the their tiny country, if one only looks closely enough. A special investigator had seven suspect financiers arrested, including one politician. Even the president of the national judiciary is under suspicion of misuse of power.

HAMBURG, Germany, November 8, 1999 — Whoever wishes to hide funds from the grips of tax authorities will find willing assistants in the Principality of Liechtenstein. Bank managers assert that they are working within legal means, but the files of the Bundesnachrichtendienst [German intelligence] present a differing version of the story: Mafia organizations, drug cartels, and major Russian criminals are virtually invited to do business in the diminutive country.

With 6 billion people on the planet and 270 million living in the United States, who can blame anyone for thinking that one person can’t make a difference? But don’t believe it for a second.

BATAM ISLAND, Indonesia, April 13, 1999 — "Why should I continue this night business life if he is really the mastermind of the pirates?" Ayu Nani Sabri demanded, plopping her size-three figure into an old sofa inside a dimly lit karaoke bar in Batam.

LAHORE, Pakistan, August 5, 1999 — Two decades of fighting have destroyed Afghanistan's normal economy. In its place has grown a criminal economy based on drugs and smuggling, which has proven so lucrative for Afghanistan's warlords that they have little incentive to try to restore legitimate agriculture or industry.