RISE Project
RISE Project is a Romanian non-profit journalism organization founded in early 2012 by a group of investigative journalists, activists, programmers and graphic designers.
RISE Project uses research techniques and technology to generate complex investigative reporting on local and crossborder organized crime and corruption networks. It produces investigative articles and visual databases and it develops research and data visualization tools such as the Visual Investigative Scenarios platform.
RISE Project is a member of the regional network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and of the Global Investigative Journalism Network.
Investigations
In 2012 and 2013, RISE exposed several national and international cases of organized crime and corruption with serious social, economic and political impact, such as:- identified secret businesses and assets of high-rank Romanian politicians
- revealed financial connections between prominent Church officials and organized crime
- untangled networks of hidden money transactions between large international corporations and public authorities in Romania
- worked on large tax evasion cases involving cross-border food import-export structures and The Horse Meat Affair
- traced Egypt's public money hidden in Romania and abroad by Hosni Mubarak and his associates and that of Syria's dictator Bashar Al Assad
- disclosed agreements and corruption cases behind a major gold exploitation project in Romania
- an assassination attempt on a Russian banker which led the Moldovan government to ban the pro-Russian political party Patria from the 2014 elections and the party's leader to flee the country, The Global Shining Light Award, and Investigative Reporters and Editors Tom Renner Award for crime reporting.