By Khadija Ismayilova, OCCRP, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Aerbaijan’s new crystal hall will host the Eurovision song festival

Later this month, the eyes of the world will be focused on a shimmering glass and steel building newly erected on the shores of the Caspian Sea to welcome the pop stars and television crews from more than 40 European countries who will broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 spectacle.

By Khadija Ismayilova and Nushaba Fatullayeva

Refugee Novruz Allahverdiyev

Novruz Allahverdiyev, 40, lives in a mud house in the village of Chovdar, a small Soviet-era mining town in rural Azerbaijan. He is one of 800,000 displaced persons from the war with Armenia that battered his native Nagorno Karabakh region in the early nineties. He and 60 other families  found shelter and a place to farm in the mountainous western region of Dashkesan. Like many of the displaced, Allahverdiyev is patriotic and the walls of his poor home are plastered with pages from an aging calendar featuring  portraits of Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan and his late father.

A series by OCCRP reporters from Serbia and Bosnia has been named best investigative story of the year. This is the second year in a row the reporters have won the distinction, given by Serbia’s Organization of Independent Journalists in conjunction with the US Embassy to Serbia.

The Center for Investigative Reporting in Serbia (CINS) and Bosnia’s Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN) won the award for a five part series on convicted money launderer Zoran Copic, who holds both Serbian and Bosnian citizenship.

Stevan Dojcinovic and Bojana Jovanovic of CINS and Mahir Sahinovic of CIN reported on Copic’s role as a money launderer for Montenegrin narco boss Darko Saric by taking advantage of the privatizations of at least 15 companies between 2005 and 2008.

The stories were edited and coordinated by John Holland and Branko Cecen.

By Valerie Hopkins
Azerbaijani journalist and OCCRP Regional Coordinator Khadija Ismayilova’s requests for a full investigation into her harassment and defamation have been unmet by the Azerbaijani government, Isamyilova said at a press conference today.

“The evidence shows that the government agencies were involved in the crime and prosecutor’s office fails to act as an independent investigative body,” said Ismayilova.

Results of an investigation she conducted with her lawyer and other journalists revealed that illegal monitoring of the journalist began just days after she published an story about the Azerbaijani President’s family’s businesses.

By Sonja Žujo
 A new report published today paints a bleak picture of the anti-corruption efforts in the Balkans. Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) came out worst, with rampant corruption and no operational anti-corruption agency, according to the annual Global Integrity Network (GI) 2011 report.

Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo also fared poorly in the study for deficiencies in media freedom, audit institutions and the election process.

Strong political influences on anti-corruption agencies and a lack of resources are a major problem in the Balkans. According to GI’s assessment, corruption is still widespread in BiH, and the country’s success in the battle against corruption has declined since the last assessment, in 2009.

By Valerie Hopkins
A Turkish national who allegedly helped a confidante to Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak hide his assets in a string of offshore companies has been placed on Interpol’s most wanted list.

Ali Evsen, who also holds Albanian and Azerbaijani citizenship, has been added to the international warrant database by Egypt, accused of fraud.

In The Hunt for Egypt’s Money, published in February, OCCRP reporters described how Evsen assisted Mubarak’s close associate Hussein Salem in hiding his assets.