Money Trail: The Fight Against Corruption and Inequality Has Been Strengthened

"...[I]ntercontinental collaboration between journalists...is a weapon for standing up against corrupt governments and fraudulent companies when journalists expose abuses." - Ides Debruyne, Co-founder and Managing Director of Journalismfund.eu

This report highlights the stories, achievements, and activities of Money Trail, a collaborative journalism project that sought to increase the capacity of journalists to produce stories on money laundering, corruption, and illicit financing in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Finance Uncovered (FU), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), Journalismfund.eu, and Oxfam Novib worked together to offer training and grants for journalists to investigate cross-border illicit financial flows, tax abuse, and corruption in the three regions. The project ran from April 2018 to September 2021.

The report explains that "Even before the COVID-19 crisis, countries faced widespread corruption, tax evasion and other harmful tax practices. Illicit finance thwarts their efforts to recover earnings and diminishes national revenues. These abuses erode countries' ability to provide access to health, education and economic opportunities to their citizens. This drain on resources does more than financial loss. It enhances inequalities within and between nations, undermines their capacity to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, and promotes injustices." These issues, according to the report, require global cooperation and engagement by all stakeholders including the media, civil society organisations (CSOs), and governments. In particular, investigative journalism is key to addressing this situation, as it helps expose the corrupt practices so that activists, the media, and CSOs can hold government officials to account and pressure companies to pay their fair share in taxes.

To support investigative journalists and CSOs, Money Trail carried out a range of activities, which are described in detail in the report. They include:

Training for journalists and activists - FU and FPU provided trainings focused on how to investigate tax abuse, money laundering, and corruption, as well as how to ensure digital safety. Topics included: the history, size, and scale of the offshore world; the relevant policy contexts; various forms of taxation; basic accountancy and financial statement interpretation; how and where to find relevant documents; the cross-border dimension to finance; and methodologies to piece together complex financial investigations. FPU also provided journalists with digital security training that sought to make them aware of the threats, risks, and dangers they might encounter during their work, while at the same time giving them insight into possible measures to protect themselves. The training included FPU's preexisting online learning platform called Totem, which focused on online security (see Related Summaries, below).

Financial grants - The Money Trail project provided grant opportunities for journalists to conduct often long-term and costly investigations, especially at a time when media houses do not want to invest or do not have sufficient resources. In particular, Journalismfund.eu offered working grants for (mixed teams of) African, Asian, and European journalists to investigate cross-border illicit financial flows, tax abuse, and corruption in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

CSOs and activists can play a role in amplifying investigations, using evidence found by journalists to help shape policy demands and to promote change. Oxfam Novib supported eight CSOs in Africa and Asia with grants to follow up on Money Trail investigations with policy and advocacy initiatives and/or campaign "spikes" in their respective countries. The report offers a description of a selection of these CSO collaborations and their impact.

Mattermost: online Money Trail community - The project created a secure and accessible space for Money Trail's network of investigative journalists and CSO activists to communicate remotely, exchange ideas, share files, and seek collaboration.

Technical support desk and safety - A variety of support mechanisms were made available to journalists and activists to keep sources and information during an investigation safe and secure. For example, FPU established a Technical Support Desk that trained participants could reach out to for digital security-related advice and support.

Through these activities, Money Trail supported the publication of over a hundred collaborative investigative stories. To highlight the impact of the project, the report features five of some of the most impactful stories, looking at the key findings of each investigation and the impact of the investigation. One story, for example, uncovered the secret offshore world of the Kenyan president's family, and, in Vietnam, an investigation revealed how big oil corporations used their power to challenge the government, which had tried to impose taxes on their massive profits. In Cape Verde, a Money Trail investigation exposed the offshore banking sector that supported the illicit business dealings of the billionaire daughter of the former president of Angola. Another project involved three journalists from the Netherlands, Italy, and Nigeria, who worked together for six months to investigate the effects of Europe's migration money and policies in Africa. Money Trail also helped expose the consequences of global sports betting companies targeting some of the economically poorest and most vulnerable people on the continent. Overall, the impact of these stories shows how power-holders were forced to take appropriate measures, including discussions in parliaments, back-pedalling on laws, policy/practice changes, tax penalties, formal inquiries, and the formation of investigative committees.

In addition to the above stories, the report includes a fuller list of stories that were authored by journalists who participated in one of the Money Trail trainings on financial investigations and digital security. Three of these Money Trail investigations were chosen as the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN)'s best 2020 investigative stories. Overall, the report states that "Money Trail supported and inspired a global community of investigative journalists and civil society activists, and empowered millions of readers to engage with issues of global importance such as corruption, abuses of power, accountability and broken systems."

For more information, visit the Money Trail project website.