Dataharvest 2015

Public spending: The Profiteers of the Hungarian-Romanian Border Area. Dozens of millions were spent on building roads that lead to nowhere within the Hungary-Romania Cross-Border Co-operation Programme 2007-2013. The cost of these works were 23 million euro by low estimates, other sources put the final price tag as high as 55 million. Our project focused on the construction and communication tenders of projects financed through the HURO programme. We zoomed in these two areas because our past experience shows that these are the two areas where dodgy deals and cases of supposed corruption are most likely to happen. We sifted through more than 300 public procurements, filed FOI requests to 40 public authorities and conducted background interviews with politicians, businessmen and experts who know the programme from the inside. http://www.journalismfund.eu/borderareaprofiteers

Wolves of Europe - How Fraudsters Turn Forged Bonds Into Cash: Forged bonds worth billions of Euros harm the world economy. For example international fraudsters lease forged German-government bonds to unknowing clients. These clients then attempt to present worthless bonds as collateral for loans the banks would otherwise have declined. This fraud finds victims around the world. In the cases related to the Italian Marco Russo, CORRECT!V and its partners have found evidence of fake bonds with a volume exceeding a billion Euros. In China the Italian Marco Russo allegedly defrauded businesses for 560 million Euros in counterfeited German-government bonds. For an Austrian firm he faked bonds valued at 200 million Euros; in 2009 financing for a chemical plant in Russia collapsed when a contract for 500 million Euros in government bonds proved to be a fraud. Russo and his helpers work in Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. A few months ago Russo opened a new office in Hanover, Germany. http://espresso.repubblica.it/inchieste/2014/09/05/news/quel-genio-della-finanza-truffatore-seriale-cosi-marco-russo-falsificava-titoli-al-pc-1.178793?ref=HEF_RULLO, http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wirtschaft/geld/Die-Finanzwoelfe-Europas/story/29411153, http://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2014-09-05/the-wolves-of-europe-la-trama-de-brokers-que-hacia-negocio-con-obligaciones-falsas_185759/, http://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2014-09-05/the-wolves-of-europe-la-trama-de-brokers-que-hacia-negocio-con-obligaciones-falsas_185759/, http://kredithaie.correctiv.org/, http://kredithaie.correctiv.org/