Trump, Putin in the List of Most Corrupt. But Award Goes to…
A €230 billion money laundering scandal put Danske Bank ahead of a record 22 other contenders to win the 2019 Corrupt Actor of the Year award from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
For the past seven years, the non-profit media organization has spotlighted the individual or institution that has done the most over the previous 12 months to advance organized criminal activity and corruption in the world.
“Danske Bank is a worthy recipient of this prize. It highlights the role of the criminal services industry in enabling international corruption and crime,” said OCCRP co-founder and editor Drew Sullivan.
[ The Integrity Bulletin Launched to Cover Corruption Issues ]
The term “criminal services” refers to the banks, law firms, registration agents, accountants, and others who help criminals and corrupt officials hide their assets and legitimize their operations.
“In the past 20 years, they’ve globalized organized crime and autocracy and helped everyone from Mexican drug cartels to Russian President Vladimir Putin to terrorists, autocrats, and almost every global threat,” he said. Sullivan was one of nine judges who made the final selection. Nominations were submitted by journalists and the public.
Finalists for the award meant to identify the world’s most influential rogues included:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former OCCRP Person of the Year;
- Hungarian President Viktor Orban, who has enriched himself and his friends while cracking down on migrants and turning his country away from democracy;
- Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, implicated in the death and dismemberment of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as in jailing dissidents and shaking down and torturing rivals;
- US President Donald Trump, whose charitable foundation, family business, and presidential campaign are embroiled in investigations.
In the end, the OCCRP jury settled on Danske Bank for the role its Estonian branch played in allowing billions of dollars to be laundered over the past decade.
[ Appropriate Legal System Needed to Combat Corruption: Ulla Tørnæs ]
In one operation, billions of dollars flowed through Danske’s Estonian branch from Azerbaijan to offshore companies, high-ranking officials, and even European politicians who praised the nation’s regime despite its chronic human rights abuses, according to an OCCRP report.
“In Azerbaijan, Danske Bank was the conduit for bribes, parking stolen assets, and the theft of national resources for one of the most vindictive and corrupt regimes in the world,” said Paul Radu, OCCRP co-founder and judge. “The corrupt Aliyev family couldn’t have done this without the bank.”
[ Support New Research Project on Corruption in India ]
Danske Bank claims that since the spring of 2017, it has managed to block more than 3 million fraudulent e-mails to customers and employees. It adds that criminals pretending to be Danske Bank are to a great extent prevented from succeeding in their missions.
OCCRP serves as an investigative reporting platform for 46 member centers that stretch from Europe to Central Asia and across the Atlantic into Latin America. It works to advance public understanding of how organized crime and corruption affect lives by advancing sharper coverage of corruption and producing in-depth, cross-border investigative stories.
The Swedish Development Agency, USAID, the Danish Government, Luminate, the Open Society Foundations and other major international donors support OCCRP, which has offices in Sarajevo, Bucharest, Riga, Tbilisi, and Washington DC.
