OCCRP ID: How Our Research Team Supports Investigative Journalists Around the World
When crime and corruption spans the globe, it takes a network of investigators to uncover the truth. Researchers, the brain power behind the OCCRP ID platform, are a major part of the work. Here’s how they help make our investigations happen.
Wealthy oligarchs and corrupt officials often conceal their fortunes using multiple companies across a number of countries, making it difficult for just one journalist to get the full story. Following dirty money is also a specialized skill that challenges even seasoned reporters. That’s why we launched OCCRP ID, a ticketing platform that provides research assistance to investigators in the OCCRP network.
Previously known as Investigative Dashboard, OCCRP ID is currently made up of nine researchers based in Latin America, South Asia, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Together, they help journalists track down secretive financial activity, hidden assets, and complex corporate structures that might otherwise remain hidden.
While OCCRP’s researchers are not expected to cultivate sources or draft stories, they often bring language skills and regional expertise that the reporting team might not have. This is where the line between reporter and researcher can become blurred, especially for major investigative projects where reporters have dozens of research requests that require a quick turnaround.
Regional Editor Antonio Baquero says he’s used the research team “heavily” since starting to work at OCCRP.
Baquero coordinated OpenLux, an investigative series that uncovered assets belonging to politically exposed persons around the world that were hidden in Luxembourg. ID played a “crucial” role in the project, he said.
“Several OpenLux stories would not have seen the light had it not been for the researchers,” who found key documents, he said. “They provide the evidence structure that’s needed for our kind of investigative journalism.”
How OCCRP ID Works
Typically, OCCRP’s researchers receive requests to look into a person or company that a journalist has already started to investigate.
Using a specialized ticketing system, the journalist indicates what they know about their topic, what they’re looking for, and how they’ve already tried to find it.
The team then assigns a researcher who has the language skills, regional expertise, or other qualifications that make them the best equipped to assist.
The ID team specializes in “open-source intelligence,” also known as OSINT — the practice of collecting and analyzing data that is available to the public.
While a simple Google search counts as OSINT, much of what the team does involves turning to various online databases that are publically available, but not widely known. These provide information about personal details like marriage certificates, properties, imports and exports, yachts and airplanes, and, of course, companies.
Using these sources, the team does everything possible to find what the requesting journalist has asked for. But the wealth of available data sometimes enables an experienced researcher to find something completely unexpected. For example, ID researchers recently uncovered critical information about notorious money launderer Reza Zarrab by using a photo a reporter had found of his U.S.-government-issued Employment Authorization card.
On the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, the ID team logged in using the number from the card to learn that it had been mailed to a FBI office in New York City. This showed that the authorities were helping Zarrab set up a life in the United States as he continued to receive money from shady sources abroad.
Of course, the information that the government makes publicly available varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This is especially true when it comes to company data. Some secretive places like the British Virgin Islands infamously restrict public access to corporate data, making it nearly impossible to learn what’s happening with companies registered there (unless there’s a juicy leak).
However, an increasing number of countries are adopting transparency measures that allow journalists to determine the owner of a firm or other information.
Often, this can make a difference to stories that have been requested from half a world away.
For example, when investigating a drug smuggler named Arber Cekaj, the assigned researcher turned to the company register of his home country of Albania — which, unlike in many wealthier nations, is available to anyone for free.
The database allowed the researcher to find a firm owned by Cekaj. Then, a separate import and export database called Import Genius showed that, during the three years after Ecuadorian authorities had charged him with trafficking cocaine, his company made another 137 international shipments.
Thanks to an import-export database, this story exposed major shortcomings in the work of both Albanian and Ecuadorian law enforcement agencies.
Sharing Knowledge
While the OCCRP ID platform is only available for journalists within the OCCRP network, we also try to share as much of our OSINT knowledge as possible.
Our Catalogue of Research Databases lists publicly accessible company, land, and court records. We also host in-person and virtual trainings for journalists around the world. Our largest such program is our research fellowship, where six journalists from six OCCRP member centers work alongside ID researchers to learn the principles of investigative research. Some of our fellows have gone on to work on award-winning projects, such as the Pegasus Project and the Pandora Papers.
We’re also trying to make the documents we obtain available to a wider set of journalists outside of the OCCRP network. After an investigation is published, the ID team typically uploads documents from the story onto OCCRP Aleph, a platform that compiles data sets from around the world for journalists who’ve applied for access. This helps them do subsequent research using these documents themselves.
As one of the world’s largest investigative outlets, OCCRP publishes over 100 investigative stories per year. Such a volume would not be possible without our dedicated research team, whose work makes the individual stories possible and whose expertise and insight makes us all better journalists every day.
Written by OCCRP’s ID team.
