From VOA:
Launched by the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank, the Kleptocracy Archive provides access to a database that it says will enable users to “identify key actors in the complicated patronage and business networks that characterize kleptocracies” – a term used for governments whose officials engage in large-scale misappropriation of public funds for personal enrichment.
The database currently lists 94 “individuals” (although several reputed Russian organized crime gangs are listed among the “individuals”), including two sitting presidents – Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko.
While the “individuals” listed are from four countries – Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Uzbekistan – the vast majority of them are Russian.
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The database currently lists 94 “individuals” (although several reputed Russian organized crime gangs are listed among the “individuals”), including two sitting presidents – Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko.
While the “individuals” listed are from four countries – Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Uzbekistan – the vast majority of them are Russian.
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Direct to Kleptocracy Archive
See Also: Foreign Policy (May 18, 2016)
It has become very clear that Western governments, journalists, and activists need new tools, skills, and knowledge to detect and counteract the penetration of these corrosive practices into areas as diverse as international organizations, media, legal and financial systems, elections, lobbying, think-tanks, universities, and real estate.
The Kleptocracy Archive is just such a tool, providing concrete examples of key actors’ illicit activities by linking them directly to primary and secondary evidence. By approaching kleptocracies as networks of corrupt individuals rather than legitimate governments, it does what Western leaders have failed to do.
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All this material is curated and catalogued to make it comprehensible and accessible. What it shows, irrefutably and with chilling consistency, is how corrupt rulers have carried their values and practices into the heart of Western institutions: in police reports and interviews, arrest warrants and indictments, evidentiary exhibits, trial transcripts and judgments, financial and business documents, and even in personal correspondence.
About Gary Price
