International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

A WEEKLY ROUND-UP OF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING WORLDWIDE

“Investigations Around the World” is a weekly feature designed to showcase great investigative reporting across the globe. We are always looking for stories to highlight, so please send your links to investigations@icij.org. You can also follow these reports on ICIJ’s Facebook page.

Week of 2/22/10

IDL-Reporteros, a new investigative reporting center in Lima, uncovered a deal in which the Peruvian government overpaid some $2 million for 31 Israeli-made troop carriers.

The Sunday Times in South Africa revealed how the Rwandan government secretly paid millions of dollars for two luxury business class jets, despite the impoverished country’s strong dependence on international aid after years of conflict.

The Washington Post revealed how Afghanistan’s biggest bank has been quietly making multimillion-dollar loans to buy luxury villas in Dubai by members of President Hamid Karzai’s family, his government and his political backers.

Week of 2/8/10

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism revealed how politicians in Maguindanao, have used fraud, political pressure and security threats to falsify the 2007 census, leading to more allocation of tax funds for regional, provincial, and municipal governments.

The Bosnian Center for Investigative Reporting uncovered how hundreds of people, including criminals, obtained counterfeit IDs through public officials, enabling criminals to avoid justice, police, and prison.

PBS Frontline investigated the crash of Continental Flight 3407 outside of Buffalo, N.Y, and uncovered that major airlines have outsourced more and more of their flights to obscure regional carriers, whose safety records have been mired in controversy.

In a follow-up investigation, the Investigative Reporting Workshop found that in the U.S.money from the 2009 stimulus to support the renewable energy industry continues to flow to companies overseas.

Week of 1/25/10

An investigation of ArchivosChile has revealed that Chile’s military government funneled $442,000,000 dollars (1.5 Billion today) to secret accounts of the military, including “loans” to then-president Augusto Pinochet.

The South African newspaper Times uncovered how South Africa’s agricultural land is under threat as the department of mineral resources hands out mining licenses indiscriminately, facilitating the loss of personal property and risking food security and environmental degradation.

The Huffington Post reports that Goldman Sachs had been willing to cancel its credit-default swaps with AIG instead of being paid in full via its insurance policies. Yet three months later the Fed of New York paid Goldman Sachs in full for the insurance-like contracts, effectively funneling billions in taxpayer funds into Goldman’s coffers.

ProPublica has used its unemployment insurance tracker to monitor states’ trust funds, whose liquidity has been threatened by the prolonged recession. It projects a spate of borrowing by states where reserves will run out. Two dozen state’s unemployment funds are already bankrupt; nine more will follow in the next six months, according to the investigation.

Week of 1/11/10

The Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism uncovered a modern-day slave trade that is very much alive in Europe, where poor people from Eastern Europe are being lured to work in the Czech Republic without receiving food or compensation.

California Watch found large corporations in California are getting hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus dollars despite a history of environmental violations, criminal probes and allegations of fraud.

The New York Times reveals a curtain of secrecy behind the death in nations’ immigration jails, bringing to light investigative reports and confidential memos that show officials working to stymie outside inquiry.

The Forum for African Investigative Reporters brought to light the unhealthy living conditions of 100,000 people living in the slums around Nairobi, where tons of fuming waste from more than 4 million city dwellers are added daily to a dump that has been declared full and a health hazard for years.

Week of 12/21/09

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project investigated the booming black market for passports and visas in the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Russia.

A report by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network reveals that illegal logging in Albanian forests is flourishing, facilitated in part by government incompetence and corruption.

Using Argentina’s freedom of information law, the investigative unit of FOPEA (Foro de Periodismo Argentino) revealed how millions in subsidies that are supposed to help the poor end up in the pocket of political bosses, foundations linked to TV personalities and shell groups.

New American Media reports that loans granted to struggling small businesses as part of President Obama’s stimulus package have largely shut out Latino and Black-owned businesses.

The New York Times continues its series “Toxic Waters.” This week, Charles Duhigg reveals how the federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose a serious health risk and still be legal.

Week of 12/4/09

South Africa’s Dispatch published an investigative series titled “Slumlords” in which a reporter uncovered the illegal after hours activities of an employee in the Premier’s office, who moonlights as a street vendor and has managed to build a slum property empire worth more than $800,000 over the last couple of years.

A summary of a secret 2003 report disclosed by The Washington Post, along with descriptions of more recent incidents by federal homeland security officials, revealed that at least 91 people have breached the Secret Service’s checkpoints since 1980.

The Center for Investigative Reporting in Sarajevo has revealed another case in which a top official failed to disclose his income. Finance and treasury minister Dragan Vrantik didn’t disclose a gift of nearly $ 50,000 from the Capljina Construction Fund, which he used to buy an apartment.

A New York Times investigation found that more than 20 percent of the national U.S water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act and that the water provided has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic as well as radioactive substances.

Week of 11/30/09

In an under cover investigation by the Romanian Center for Investigative Reporting, journalist Adrian Mogos exposed how easily fake ID cards can be obtained in Romania and Bulgaria. Those cards are then used to immigrate to Western Europe.

A story by Arab Reporters for investigative Journalism revealed the hurdles and lengthy legal procedures Jordanian women face when claiming alimony from ex-husbands.

The News Journal found a pattern of “denial and delay” among administrative law judges who have the power to grant or deny Social Security benefits to disabled workers in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

USA Today released a report outlining a questionable recall of beef contaminated with salmonella that excluded beef used in school lunches.

Week of 11/23/09

Chile’s Centro de Investigación e Información Periodística published the findings of its investigation into DINA, Chile’s secret service under former president Pinochet. The investigation reveals a yet unpublished chapter of men and companies that financed the repression in Chile.

Scoop found that disposal of medical waste in the Balkans is well below European standards and has led to the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics in the region.

The CNN investigation “Killings At The Canal: The Army Tapes,” reveals why the Army’s rules for holding detainees may have led to the murders of four Iraqis by three decorated Army sergeants in Baghdad.

Week of 11/16/09

In a collaborative effort journalists at the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo Puerto Rico and the Miami Herald revealed decades of environmental violations, financial distress and neglect by an oil refinery in Puerto Rico, Caribbean Petroleum Corporation.

TVI Portugal broadcast “Mafia Portuguesa” by ICIJ member Rui Araujo, a 30 minute investigative documentary on illegal toxic waste dumps in Portugal. After the story aired, the Portuguese government gave one of the companies involved 60 days to remove its toxic waste.

An investigation by USA Today examined an increasingly common practice by retired military officers, who re-invent themselves as consultants for defense contractors while also working as paid advisers for the Pentagon.

Week of 11/09/09

The German weekly magazine Der Spiegel did a four-part series on a German clothing retailer’s exploitation of its staff and suppliers. The economic survival and success of the cheap retailer’s Kik has hinged on the fate of young seamstresses in Bangladesh, unpaid employees back at home and an ineffective quality control unit.

The Center for Investigative Reporting in Sarajevofound that Nicola Spiric, chairman of Bosnia-Herzegovina Council of Ministers, omitted to disclose substantial asset and property information before he took the post in the Council of Ministers, grossly understating his net worth.

A powerful CNN video investigation details a burgeoning child sex tourism industry in Kenya.

An ABC News investigation found that a Michigan blueberry farm supplying Wal-Mart has been employing children as young as 5.

A ProPublica investigation reveals secret audits that show the U.N. cannot account for tens of millions of dollars provided to the Afghan election commission.

Week of 10/19/09

Investigative group SCOOP reports on the network of prisons in Albania and Kosovo that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) supported during the Kosovo War. Cemetery records, UN documents and eyewitness reports show a pattern of abuse, torture, and civilian deaths. The story also ran on BBC Radio 4, reported by ICIJ member Michael Montgomery.

CIPER journalist Pedro Ramírez found that despite numerous indictments against Bestpharma, the laboratory continued to sell $250 million worth of an ineffective cancer medicine, even after its license had been canceled.

An ABC News investigation of a Federal Aviation Administration database revealed that a Peruvian drug kingpin, a convicted arms trafficker, and other individuals linked to aviation crimes continue to hold pilot licenses, despite the post-9/11 attempt to tighten security.

A 10-month Washington Post investigation found that from 2004-2008, the Health Department spent $25 million on nonprofit HIV/AIDS care providers that delivered substandard services, and in some cases failed to account for any work or clients at all.

Week of 10/12/09

This week’s round-up found a host of reports on the plight of children around the world. The Moldova Journalistic Investigations Center released Children with No Name, a look at the thousands of Moldovan kids who get lost in the system, with no ID cards or access to health care and other benefits.

The Los Angeles Times revealed how the Los Angeles County child welfare system has failed to protect those in its custody, including 268 children who died in the past two years.

And a Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel investigation found that at least 22 children in Milwaukee County foster care died over a five year period, despite clear warnings of trouble.

Also of note : Al Jazeera produced an enterprising two-part series, building on revelations about the alleged theft of the Republic of Congo’s extensive oil revenue by President Denis Sassou-Nguesso.

Week of 10/05/09

In China, Caijing Magazine unraveled a massive financing scheme that used bank credit, offshore companies and copper imports to bilk a number of foreign and Chinese banks and firms.

Through the story of 22-year-old Stephanie Smith – left paralyzed in 2007 after eating a hamburger tainted by E. coli – the New York Times exposed the broken meat inspection system in the U.S.

In a four-part series, Brazil’s TV Tribuna/Rede Record chronicled the plight of girls as young as 14 in Olinda State, who prostitute themselves to feed an addiction to crack.

Week of 9/28/09

The Bosnian Center for Investigative Reporting revealed how the police issued weapon permits to three members of the top criminal organizations in the Balkans and allowed them to import armored vehicles from the U.S.
 
An AP investigation of ten years of Environmental Protection Agency data unveiled that the drinking water in 2,250 U.S. schools violated federal safety standards, exposing thousands of schoolchildren to toxins such as coliform bacteria, lead, copper, arsenic and nitrate.

In Latin America, Asia and Southeast Europe this week, a series of stories highlight the transnational trade in counterfeit medicines. A feature by the Smithsonian Magazine reported in southeast Asia traces the spread of counterfeit anti-malaria drugs, which the World Health Organization estimates are linked to up to 20% of the one million malaria deaths worldwide each year. In Argentina, Daniel Santoro of Clarín investigates the country’s trade in counterfeit pharmaceuticals and its links to government and union officials. Meanwhile, a collaboration between the East and Southeast European investigative group Scoop and the Macedonian daily Dnevnik examines how counterfeit medicines have proliferated in Macedonia, along with other fake goods (translations available in English here).

Week of 9/21/09

Check out the winners of the IPYS awards, which recognize the best investigative stories from Latin America. An investigation into illegal financial operations by the Catholic Church in Costa Rica and a story that exposed a corrupt Brazilian politician whose company profited from government contracts for years won the top prizes.

Hundreds of abandoned mercury mines in central California are polluting the state’s waterways, leaving over 100,000 people and local wildlife in danger of contamination. The federal government has tried to clean up fewer than a dozen mines, and most of these efforts have failed.

A thwarted assassination attempt revealed an intriguing web of alleged tax evasion, money laundering, and illegal campaign contribution schemes linked to arms manufacturing mogul Gaston Glock.

Kelly Air Force Base in Texas has been one of the many vacant military bases slated for chemical clean-up. Despite outcry that Kelly’s toxins have affected the local community, the Air Force refuses to admit complicity in the high local rates of cancer.

Week of 9/14/09

Over 100 companies in the United Kingdom — including well-known brands like Virgin Atlantic — are contracting with prisons to use inmates for cheap labor, a Guardian investigation found. With pay as low as £4 per week, critics charge that such mindless labor not only exploits prisoners but also fails to offer any rehabilitative benefits.

The BBC’s Sam Bagnall investigated how Gypsy gangs force young children onto the streets to beg and steal, while law enforcement remains apparently powerless to stop the trend. A chilling video reveals the case of one child, coerced into begging for 10 straight hours.

The New York Times portrays the startling extent of worsening water pollution in the United States, including an exhaustive survey chronicling more than 506,000 violations of the U.S. Clean Water Act. Over the past five years, the report finds, federal authorities have allowed industry and others to contaminate water supplies with near-impunity.

ICIJ member David Leigh, of the Guardian, just published an exposé of how the UK oil company Trafigura tried to cover up a pollution disaster in west Africa. Read the story and see the documents here.

Week of 08/31/09

The Center for Investigative Reporting finds that even as the immigration court system faces a backlog of 200,000 cases, the ranks of new border agents and related trial attorneys have swelled by 35%. Meanwhile, the number of judges has stagnated, forcing more immigrants into detention as they await hearings.

Chilean investigative outlet CIPER uncovered documents showing that authorities that knowingly made extravagant renovations to offices in Santiago’s Hotel Carrera rather than building newer, cheaper ones. The $89 million repairs cost double the initial estimate.

The Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism discovered that filthy school restrooms in Jordan are causing widespread cases of infectious diseases. At schools, only one sanitation employee exists per 1, 396 students.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Center for Investigative Reporting discovered that instead of improving local economies and creating jobs, the Repulika Srpska Development Bank has issued loans to companies politically connected with Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, several of which claim offshore bank accounts and false assets.

The Chauncey Bailey Project is an ongoing investigation by a conglomerate of California journalists who are working on bringing justice to all who were involved with the brutal murder of award-winning journalist Chauncey Bailey. See their latest developments here.

Archived Stories

ProPublica spent more than 18 months examining what happens when foreign civilian workers working for U.S. government contractors are injured or killed in war zones. It found that even though the U.S. has a system to provide care for such civilian casualties, foreign workers and their families rarely get these benefits.

In the second of a two-part series, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism interviewed reporters regarding the Arroyo administration’s unwillingness to disclose public records, focusing especially on Statements of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) which can be important indicators of corruption.

After the Moldovan Ministry of Informational Development released the shocking statistic that the number of eligible voters had increased by 800,000 people from 2005 to 2009, the Journalistic Investigations Center teamed up with the Danish Association of Investigative Journalism to examine the April 2009 parliamentary elections, in which they found ample evidence of fraud.

Colombia’s Semana magazine investigated the suspicious deaths of two gold-mining union members at the hands of the armed forces; while the Army claimed the men were guerrillas, Semana found no evidence that the men had paramilitary or leftist ties.

EU Transparency has published a database containing 12 years of EU fishery subsidies, along with a revised version of its EU farm subsidies database.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJI) reported on a government announcement giving contractors just five days to counterbid on a $1.1 billion dam proposal submitted by the owner of a major food company with close ties to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

PBS analyzed financial records to tell the story of how the United States’ most lucrative newspapers have been “siphoning money from their newsroom budgets to pad profits,” laying off their investigative and computer-assisted reporters while making more profit than ever before.

The Chilean Center for Investigative Journalism and Information (CIPER) reported on the shadowy businesses of a high-powered politician and his ties to dictator Augusto Pinochet and to an international arms dealer in “De Cardoen a Pinochet: Las redes del hombre que gestó el negocio ilícito del Registro Civil.”

Next newspaper in Nigeria juxtaposed the presidential family’s 17-ambulance fleet in Abuja against the single makeshift ambulance of a neighboring 300,000-person slum in “The Statehouse and its 17 ambulances” investigation.

Lowell Bergman and Oriana Zill de Granados have produced a powerful new PBS documentary on international bribery, Black Money (Frontline), which features ICIJ’s David Leigh as well as the work of members Fred Laurin, Stefan Candea, and Paul Radu. See also the companion website, The Business of Bribes (Frontline World).

Michael Montgomery’s latest radio documentary exposes torture and murder in secret jails run by the Kosovo Liberation Army, under the noses of NATO and the UN. The 30-minute program was released April 10 on BBC Radio 4’s Crossing Continents, along with a print version with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network; and a Center for Investigative Reporting series of web-cam diaries.

The 2008 IRE Awards, honoring investigations of Guantanamo, cyberwar, the recycling industry, and murdered journalist Chauncey Bailey.

“Voronin Jr., surrogate mothers and a killed bodyguard,” Stefan Candea and Vitalie Calugareanu. Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism (April 2009).

“A Better Life Elsewhere, Human Traffic in and from Africa,” Forum for African Investigative Reporters.

“IRENE unveils secret reports about side effects,” Investigative Reporters Network Europe (IRENE). (October 2008).

“Aircraft seizures: A huge scam is unraveling,” The Indian Express. Ritu Sarin (July 19, 2008).

“A Toxic Pipeline,” The New York Times. Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker (May 2007 – Mar. 2008).

“Inside India’s Underground Trade in Human Remains,” Wired magazine. Scott Carney (Nov. 27, 2007).

“A Killing Season,” The Asia Sentinel. Lin Neumann (May 26, 2007).

“El Hombre del Presidente,” (Spanish only) ABC Color. Mabel Rehnfeldt (2007).

“American Imports, Chinese Deaths,” The Salt Lake Tribune. Loretta Tofani (2007).

“The BAE Files,” The Guardian (United Kingdom). David Leigh and Rob Evans (2007).

“Humans for sale – security officials involved,” The Crusading Guide. Anas Aremeyaw Anas (Oct. 26, 2007).

“Exporting Faith,” The Boston Globe. Michael Kranish, Peter S. Canellos, Farah Stockman, Kevin Baron, Susan Milligan, Rick Klein, and Charlie Savage (Oct. 8, 2006).

“Guantanamo Detainees,” The Associated Press. Andrew O. Selsky (Mar. 6, 2006).

“Secrets, Lies, and Sweatshops: How Chinese suppliers hide the truth from U.S. companies,” BusinessWeek. Dexter Roberts and Pete Engardio (Nov. 27, 2006).

ICIJ BOOKSHELF: RECENT BOOKS BY ICIJ MEMBERS AROUND THE WORLD

O Diario Secreto Que Salazar Nao Leu, Rui Araujo. Oficina do Livro. (2008).

The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran, Yossi Melman and Meir Javedanfar. Basic Books. (2008).

Nuestro hombre en la DEA, Gerardo Reyes. Planeta. (2008).

Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, Ahmed Rashid. Viking Adult. (2008).

Caterpillar and the Mahua Flower: Tremors in India’s Mining Fields, edited Rakesh Kalshian. Panos South Asia. (2007). Available in PDF form online.

Stupid to the Last Drop: How Alberta is Bringing Environmental Armageddon to Canada (And Doesn’t Seem to Care), William Marsden. Knopf Canada. (2007).

Guerilla Journalism, Sunday Dare. Xlibris Corporation. (2007).

Feast & Famine: Food and the Filipino, Sheila Coronel. Center for Investigative Journalism. (2007).

The Kennedys: America’s Emerald Kings (Library Edition), Thomas Maier and Alan Sklar. Playaway. (2007).

Dances with Devils: A Journalist’s Search for Truth, Jacques Pauw. Struik Publishers. (2007).

The Hollow Men: A Study in the Politics of Deception, Nicky Hager. Craig Potton Publishing. (2006).

Lesebuch für Schreiber, Hans Leyendecker. Fischer Taschenbuch Vlg. (2005).

Sidelines: Thought Pieces from Tempo Magazine, Goenawan Mohamad. Equinox Publishing. (2005).

El Silencio: De Paulo VI a Bergoglio. Las Relaciones Secretas De La Iglesia Con La Esma, Horacio Verbitsky. Sudamericana. (2005).

Dark Victory, David Marr and Marian Wilkinson. Allen & Unwin. (2005).