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1 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
www.riseproject.ro
contact [ at ] riseproject.ro
www.facebook.com/RiseProjectRo
2 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT ABOUT
3 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT RISE Project is an investigative journalism not-for- profit organization that uses advanced data research techniques and technology to generate reliable, hard hitting, investigative reporting. It was established in January 2012 by a group of Romanian investigative reporters, visual artists and programmers. At RISE Project we produce investigative stories, databases as well as research and visualization tools. We educate other journalists and the public at large in researching complex corporate structures used by organized crime and corrupt officials to hide stolen public money. RISE PROJECT is a member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project/OCCRP (www.occrp.org) and of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (www.gijn.org). RISE Project members are founders of the OCCRP and of the Investigative Dashboard (www.investigativedashboard.org), a tool developed together with Google Ideas to help investigators track down the money and hidden assets of criminals and corrupt politicians. RISE Project, OCCRP and Quickdata also created Visual Investigative Scenarios/VIS (vis.occrp.org), a tool to visualize business and crime networks.
4 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
AIM HOW WE WORK ACROSS
To investigate organized crime and
corruption in Romania and the region.
We follow the money across borders.
We combine footwork with advanced
investigative techniques and with data
BORDERS
analysis to access hard to get records. We follow and expose organized crime
We investigate the hidden connections networks across national boundaries.
between organized crime, politics and In 2013, our investigations took us from
business and we visualize them. Romania to Cyprus, Panama, Colombia,
Moldova, Hungary, Serbia, Iceland,
5 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
OUR MEMBERS
CURRENCY IS RISE PROJECT members are experienced
investigative journalists and researchers.
Paul Radu
Mihai Munteanu
Matt Sarnecki
Raluca Dan
INFORMATION
Some are freelancers, others are also
Daniel Bojin Ionut Stanescu
affiliated with local or international media
outlets. Many have earned international Romana Puiulet Iurie Sanduta
recognition and prestigious awards such Cristi Ciuperca Radu Tutuianu
In June 2013, Tactical Tech produced as “The Daniel Pearl Global Investigative Andrei Ciurcanu Victor Ilie
a documentary film about the work we Journalism Award”, “The Global Shining
do at RISE Project and at the Organized
Laura Ranca Mihai Dina
Light Award” and several Investigative
Crime and Corruption Reporting Project/ Mihai Pogan
Reporters and Editors Awards (IRE).
OCCRP. The film can be viewed online
here.
6 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
FINANCIAL
journalism techniques, data research and data
GRANTS visualization for reporters and civil society
activists in Romania and the Republic of
INFORMATION
In 2012-2013, RISE Project was a partner in
Moldova.
the Visual Investigative Scenarios (VIS) project
financed by the International Press Institute In June 2013, the Open Society Foundations’
(IPI) and Google Inc. The project duration Media Program provided 24,900 USD for a
Most of the investigative work at RISE was 12 months: June 2012 - June 2013, with series of investigative journalism and data
Project is done on a voluntary, no pay, basis. a total budget of 71,100 Euro. RISE received visualization training sessions and cross-border
RISE members use their skills and donate 21,600 Euro for the research, coordination collaborative projects throughout Central
their time to produce some of the finest and communication activities within the Eastern Europe and beyond.
investigative reporting. project. The other project partners are the
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting
In 2013 RISE received several medium-size Project (OCCRP) and Quickdata. VIS is a
grants from donor organizations and also data visualization platform designed to assist DONATIONS
benefitted from donations from the public. investigative journalists, activists and the
general public in mapping complex business In 2013, we received 2000 USD from public
or crime networks. It is available for free at: donations, allowing us to cover access fees to
http://vis.occrp.org/. public records and reporters’ travel costs for
field research.
In May 2013 RISE was awarded a 14,800
USD grant from the United States Embassy in We thank our generous supporters for their
Bucharest to conduct training on investigative contributions to our investigative work!
7 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT INVESTIGATIONS
8 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT At RISE Project we make use of public We collaborate with journalists and researchers For example, in March 2013 we cooperated We also worked with colleagues from the UK databases and court records from all over the from all over the world. Our thinking and with journalists in the United Kingdom, (The Guardian) and from the Netherlands world. We apply innovative data processing research operate across borders to match Moldova and Russia to uncover complex illegal to trace the people and offshore companies and visualization technology to produce the patterns of our investigation subjects. business and criminal schemes behind a cross- responsible for the well-known “Horse Meat investigations that uncover local, regional Organized crime and corruption networks are border network of assassins-for-hire operating Scandal” (http://www.riseproject.ro/articol/ and global organized crime and corruption expanding, and so is our journalism. throughout Europe in “The Assassins’ Network” intermediarii-secreti-din-afacerea-carnii/), networks. We perform rigorous fact-checking (http://www.riseproject.ro/articol/reteaua- which led to horsemeat mislabeled as beef and we back our stories with thorough research asasinilor/). This investigation was a finalist at reaching consumers in England and other and documents, which we publish on our the European Press Awards. European countries. website.
9 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
ARTICLE
HIGHLIGHTS
In 2013, we exposed national and international
cases of corruption and organized crime with
critical social, economic and political impact: With Dirty Hands
a cross-border documentary investigating the
secret routes of waste transports from Naples to
factories in Romania, a business controlled by
The Ericsson Case - follow-up criminal groups from southern Italy connected
The ‘Street Dogs’ Business to Romanian public officials.
following RISE Project/OCCRP investigations in
2012, Ericsson is now being investigated in the uncovered the controversies behind
United States for its global business lobbying companies handling ‘street dogs’ in several
scheme that channeled money to public officials Romanian cities - a business worth millions
in Romania and other countries. of euros.
The Copper Mine
The Confidential Documents of the Rosia Montana Affair,
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation Under Official cross-border collaboration between Romania,
Investigation in a Major Money Laundering Case Serbia and Russia to investigate the puzzles of a
The Offshores Machine - Cyprus Crisis
network that targets Romania’s richest copper
disclosed the secret agreements and corrupt mine - a story involving secret services, masonry,
exposed offshore companies, controversial
practices surrounding the attempted exploitation offshore companies, Russian diplomats and
businessmen and politicians who took advantage
of the biggest gold mine in Europe. corrupt judges.
of the collapse of the banking system in Cyprus.
10 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
MEDIA
PRESENCE
In 2013, our investigations and visualizations
were cited and republished over 400 times in
international and national media outlets:
on-line, print, TV and radio.
Liberation ORF - Austrian public service broadcaster hetq.am
liberation.fr orf.at Armenia
International:
The Guardian Ziarul de Garda - Republic of Moldova mining.com
theguardian.com zdg.md11 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
National:
cotidianul.ro Hotnews.ro digi24.ro adevarul.ro romanialibera.ro
jurnalul.ro radio europa fm sursazilei.ro paginademedia.ro antena 3
europafm.ro12 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT STATISTICS
13 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
In 2013,
in 14 investigations
we wrote 48 articles 18 14
in which we indexed
40 persons 15
6
152 companies 12 3
13 2
4
12 law suits
1
8 5
7
Between them we generated
COVERED COUNTRIES 9
10
731 connections
1 Romania 10 Greece 11
2 Republic of Moldova 11 Cyprus
17
3 Czech Republic 12 Germany
which we represented on our website 4 Ukraine 13 Austria
16
through infographics and visualizations. 5 Serbia 14 Sweden
6 Russia 15 United Kingdom
7 Bulgaria 16 Colombia
8 Italy 17 Panama
9 Spain 18 United States14 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
TOP 10 TOP 10
ARTICLES ARTICLES
00:05:59
56,408
unique page views 00:05:17 time spent
on www.riseproject.ro on www.riseproject.ro
1 The Confidential Documents of the Rosia Montana Affair 00:05:00 1 The Gold Business: How and Why Cyanide Raises Profits
2 Who Did Rosia Montana Gold Corporation Pay in 2013? 2 Who Did Rosia Montana Gold Corporation Pay in 2013?
00:05:06
12,300 The Confidential Documents of the Rosia Montana Affair
3 The “Street Dog” Affair 3
The Rosia Montana Affair: Trips to Las Vegas and Rio for 6,910 The Rosia Montana Affair: Trips to Las Vegas and Rio for
4 Government Employees
00:04:08 4 Government Employees
6,458 00:04:41
Rosia Montana Gold Corporation Under Official Investigation
5 5 Rosia Montana Gold Corporation Under Official Investigation in a
in a Major Money Laundering Case
5,577 Major Money Laundering Case
Victor Ponta -Romanian prime minister and the Lawyer of 5,248
6 6
Udrea-Cocos Family 00:03:20 The “Street Dog” Business
00:03:34
7 The Gold Business: How and Why Cyanide Raises Profits 4,757 7
Victor Ponta - the Lawyer of Udrea-Cocos Family
3,320
8 The Masonic Money Network
3,155 00:03:09 8 The Ones Who Will Remodel Bucharest
9 The Copper Mine 3,079 00:02:45 9 The Copper Mine
10 The Ones Who Will Remodel Bucharest 10 The Masonic Money Network15 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
By the end of 2013,
our website database featured:
2,017 connections
CONNECTIONS
RISE PROJECT is all about connections and
BETWEEN
evidence. With every new investigation we
index and visualize all the entities (people,
AND EVIDENCE companies, lawsuits) and connections emerging
in our research. To these we attach the proofs:
documents, photos and video material,
generating an ever-expanding database.
Whenever a new entity is added, it connects to
314
Persons
615
Companies
59
Lawsuits
already existing data on our website making
the investigative story more thorough and
explanatory to which we have attached
758 documents16 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
The most viewed visualization The most accessed article
Trident Trust “The Confidential
Company Cyprus Documents of the Rosia
This company provided office and secretariat Montana Affair”
services for Draap Trading - the main company
used to secretly ship mislabeled horsemeat all over 56,408 unique views
Europe.
WEBSITE Our Website - www.riseproject.ro - is much Related article: “The Secret Intermediaries in the disclosed the secret agreements and corrupt
more than a publishing platform for our Horsemeat Affair” (http://www.riseproject.ro/ practices allowing a controversial corporation
investigations. It is a complex and constantly articol/intermediarii-secreti-din-afacerea-carnii/)
TRAFFIC expanding interactive visual database where
to control the exploitation of the largest gold
we index people, companies, court cases, mine in Europe.
connections and related documents. It is a
AND SOCIAL visual archive of the corruption and organized
crime phenomena of our times.
NETWORKS17 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
WEBSITE FACEBOOK
STATISTICS STATISTICS
The most "shared" article
197,194 145,392 00:02:01
Unique Visitors Avg. Visit Duration
8,013Likes
"Rosia Montana Gold Corporation
Under Investigation
Visits for Money Laundering"
27.3% 72.7% 1.82 358,750 1,138,376
Friends of fans
1,285 Shares
Returning Visitor New Visitor Pages / Visit Page views18 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT PROJECTS
19 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
In the second half of 2013
620 VIS accounts
VISUAL
were created
by users from
INVESTIGATIVE 70 countries VISUALIZATIONS NovaTV.mk (Macedonia)
“Who are the Macedonians with offshore
CREATED WITH VIS
SCENARIOS companies in Panama”
http://novatv.mk/index
php?navig=8&cat=2&vest=11145
VIS is a data visualization platform designed
to assist investigative journalists, activists
and others in mapping complex business or
crime networks. It aims to help investigators
understand and explain corruption, organized
crime and other wrongdoings and to translate
complex narratives into simple, universal visual
language. most viewed VISualization
VIS was developed by RISE PROJECT, the
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting ROSIA MONTANA
Project (OCCRP) and Quickdata, with funding
from the International Press Institute (IPI).
OWNERSHIP Atlatszo Oktatas (Hungary)
The Transylvanian Connection - Public Money for
Tusványos
Ziarul de Garda (Republic of Moldova)
“Vila şi afacerile din România ale lui Gheorghe
Avornic”
VIS was launched in June 2013 and is available 43,394 views http://atlatszooktatas.blog.hu/2013/10/28/ http://www.zdg.md/investigatii/doc-vila-si-
for free in Open Beta version - tusvanyos_484 afacerile-din-romania-ale-lui-gheorghe-avornic
http://vis.occrp.org/20 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
‘FOLLOW
THE MONEY’
HANDBOOK &
VIDEO TUTORIALS
In February 2013, RISE Project launched a
“Follow the Money” Handbook comprising
investigative techniques and data sources on
companies, people and court cases in Romania
and in the Republic of Moldova. RISE members
put together their research tools and advice and
made them available to other journalists in the
two countries. The Handbook was launched
during a workshop with investigative journalists
in Chișinău. It can be downloaded for free from
our website (http://www.riseproject.ro/ghid-
de-investigatie-rise-project/).
The Handbook is accompanied by several video
tutorials on how to find company data from
foreign public databases in Czech Republic,
Switzerland, UK or the offshore heaven of
Panama. These are available on our video page:
http://www.riseproject.ro/video/?id=121 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
TRAINING
FOLLOW THE MONEY
In the second half of 2013, RISE
CRYPTOPARTY
PROJECT launched two training projects on
“Advanced Techniques to Investigate and
Visualize Organized Crime and Corruption”
for journalists, activists and media students in RISE is not only about investigative journalism
Romania and abroad. but also about technology, security and
advanced data processing techniques. We
Our teams trained 150 journalists, activists and cooperate with programmers and civic (“white
media students from Romania and the Republic hat”) hackers in order to enhance the technical
of Moldova with financial support from the skills and online security of journalists
United States Embassy in Bucharest, and 180 investigating corruption and organized crime.
participants from Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, In 2013, we organized a “cryptoparty” (http://
Turkey, Jordan and Czech Republic with www.riseproject.ro/jurnalisti-si-hackeri-
support from an Open Society Media Program buni/), an event where civic hackers and
grant. programmers trained activists and journalists
on how to process data and how to protect
Both projects will continue in the first half of themselves and their sources in the online
2014 with further workshops in Romania and in environment. We will continue these events in
the region. 2014.22 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
ADVANCING
SUPPORT FOR
INVESTIGATIVE
JOURNALISM
Investigative journalism is often underrated
and too poorly financed to achieve in-depth In April 2013, OCCRP and RISE co-organized
research and reporting on corruption and a conference (http://www.journalismfund.eu/
organized crime and to determine real changes event/follow-money-across-borders-brussels)
in society. in the European Parliament aimed at offering
We aim to change this. a forum for debate for both investigative
journalists and decision makers within the
In 2013, RISE Project and its partner network EU Institutions and interested stakeholders,
the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting on exposing concrete cases in which EU funds
Project (OCCRP) cooperated with Members are diverted to the benefit of corruption and
of the European Parliament and with the organized crime. The event convinced European
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in order to stakeholders that investigative journalism
strengthen the role of investigative reporting in should be placed higher up on the agenda of EU
fighting organized crime and corruption. support for the media in the region.23 2013 RISE PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT
PLANS
FOR 2014
Video documentaries and multimedia Launch of a People of Interest Romania
Further development of Visual Investigative Training with journalists, activists and
investigative projects. database - including local and cross-border
Scenarios (VIS) data visualization platform, media students in Romania and abroad,
organized crime networks, corrupt individuals,
including new themes, new functions and and expansion of RISE Project’s network of
their connections, business interests and
translation in several languages including collaborators.
criminal charges.
Spanish, French and Arabic.You can also read
