Inland, though Offshore. How Russia planned to secure its money
Many Western allies of Hungary are worried about Russia’s International Investment Bank (IIB) having moved its seat to Budapest. In the meantime the government of Hungary and IIB’s management are arguing that this is only a regular international bank and cannot even be categorized as ‘Russian.’ However, VSquare and its partners reveal how IIB’s head […]
Budapest. A welcoming gateway to Europe for a Russian bank
design by Lenka MatouškováThe management board of the Russian-led International Investment Bank (IIB) held its first meeting in its new headquarters, Budapest, this week. The move of IIB from Moscow to Budapest has been controversial since it was announced: experts, historians and the media have been worried that the bank would be a tool for the Kremlin to […]
An apple with a bonus: who is poisoning us?
Pesticides which can cause brain damage in children are sold and consumed across Europe. Polish fruits and vegetables regularly cause alarm during store inspections abroad.
Countries conned by sham companies
We have identified a trail leading to a company owned by the Polish State Treasury in a VAT mafia case – a gigantic international tax fraud carousel, in which companies from Slovakia and Hungary are also involved. by Anna Kiedrzynek (Fundacja Reporterów; Newsweek), Blanka Zöldi (Direkt36), Peter Sabo (aktuality.sk) We do not know what […]
Anna Kiedrzynek
Blanka Zöldi
Peter Sabo
NOTES FROM THE REGION
State hate on judges
Close associates of Poland’s justice minister organised a smear campaign aimed at judges who were critical of the changes in the Polish judiciary
The growing fear of anti-LGBT sentiment in Hungary
Máté Hegedűs was walking on Deák tér, one of the busiest areas of Budapest recently. His long hair, his earring, flower-patterned shirt and colorful shoes made him stand out from the crowd. Someone suddenly shouted at him ’look, there goes a gay guy!’. He actually used a very vulgar expression. ’I don’t mind being stared […]
Anita Komuves
ABOUT US
VSquare is an independent, cross-border journalism initiative dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting and independent press in the Visegrad Region.
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fundacjareporterow.org
Reporters Foundation (Fundacja Reporterów) was established in 2010 by a group of leading Polish reporters. For many years its main mission was to train and support journalists from Eastern Europe, especially from Ukraine – through workshops, conferences and journalism awards. Support to strengthen cooperation between reporters and the skills of investigative journalists in Central Europe is an important part of Foundation’s philosophy.
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investigace.cz
The Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism (České centrum pro investigativní žurnalistiku) was founded in 2013 by Czech journalists to promote cross-border investigative projects, train journalists and address the need of local journalism to follow new media trends. Center was part of global investigative journalism projects such as Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Swissleaks or Global Laundromat.
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atlatszo.hu
“Atlatszo” means transparent in Hungarian. Established in 2011, atlatszo.hu produces investigative reports, files freedom of information requests and commences freedom of information lawsuits in cases where its requests are refused. Atlatszo is Hungary’s first investigative non-profit journalistic organisation financed by nonpartisan and non-governmental sources.
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Aktuality.sk
Aktuality.sk is an online news outlet owned by
Ringier Axel Springer, in the last few years have devoted a lot of
energy to building strong investigative team.
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STAY IN TOUCH
We love to hear about what our readers are up to — both professionally and personally. If you are interested in hearing more about what is going on throughout the Visegrad countries, if you have feedback or questions about VSQUARE.ORG, please send to us your question/comment.
MEET OUR TEAM
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Wojciech Cieśla
Polish journalist, since 2012 working with Newsweek Polska magazine. Co-founder of Fundacja Reporterów (Reporters Foundation), member of the investigate-europe.eu, working with OCCRP. Based in Warsaw.
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Paweł Reszka
Polish journalist, co- founder of Fundacja Reporterów (Reporters Foundation). Worked as a foreign correspondent covering Russia; former head of investigative desk at Dziennik daily. Based in Warsaw.
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Pavla Holcová
Czech journalist, founder of the Czech Center for Investigative Journalism. Closely working with OCCRP. A co-recipient of the Global Shining Light Award. Based in Prague.
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Konrad Szczygieł
Polish journalist, reporter at Superwizjer TVN, since 2016 working with Fundacja Reporterów (Reporters Foundation), in 2016 shortlisted for Grand Press award. Based in Warsaw.
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Anita Komuves
Hungarian journalist, works with the investigative outlet Atlatszo. She won the Junior Prima Prize in 2012. Former Fulbright/Humphrey Fellow. Based in Budapest.
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Szabolcs Panyi
Hungarian journalist at direkt36.hu. Covers foreign policy, national security, Russian influence. Former Hubert H. Humphrey/Fulbright fellow at Arizona State University.
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Anna Gielewska
Polish journalist, since 2012 in Wprost weekly. Covers politics, coordinator at Fundacja Reporterów (Reporters Foundation). Shortlisted for Grand Press and Mediatory awards. Based in Warsaw.
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Edyta Żemła
Polish journalist, since 2016 working for onet.pl. Former journalist at Rzeczpospolita daily and editor-in-chief of Polska Zbrojna, war correspondent in Afghanistan. Based in Warsaw.
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Peter Sabo
Peter Sabo is investigative reporter of Aktuality.sk. He is uncovering corruption using mostly data-driven approach. He was wroking in IT sector as analyst before joining Aktuality.
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Martin Turcek
Reporter of Aktuality.sk focused on corruption and data-based analytical journalism. Worked as an investigative data analyst for the TI Slovakia and Stop Corruption Foundation.
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Eva Kubániová
Eva is a journalist working for investigace.cz based in Prague. Investigace.cz is NGO covering organized crime topics and the only Czech partner of OCCRP. She works on projects connected to Slovakia.
