Money Trail report: The fight against corruption and inequality has been strengthened
Free Press Unlimited launched Money Trail together with Oxfam Novib, Finance Uncovered and Journalismfund.eu, with the support of the Dutch Postcode Lottery, to support journalists who want to uncover financial wrongdoing with training and grants.
In November 2021, Money Trail published a report titled ‘The fight against corruption and inequality has been strengthened.’ The report reveals ground-breaking stories, achievements, and activities of the project for the entire duration from April 2018 –September 2021.
“In early September 2021, after nine intense months of rigorous research investigating a complex web of offshore entities linked to the sitting president of my own country, it suddenly hit me: It was time to send him the questions.”
The report highlights Money Trail’s achievements, including supporting the publication of over a hundred investigative stories. Money Trail delivered trainings, financial grants, technical and mentoring support to independent journalists and activists to investigative tax abuse, money laundering and corruption in Asia, Africa and Europe. It improved their capacity and network to investigate and publish stories exposing corruption, tax abuse, and illicit financial flows.
Supported by the Money Trails project, the report explains how CSOs used the evidence uncovered in these stories to engage in advocacy campaigns to demand changes, resulting in increased citizens’ awareness.
Furthermore, the project contributed to establishing cross border and cross continental collaborations. In doing so Money Trail publications reached millions of readers, including via the BBC, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera and The Guardian.
One Money Trail story revealed the secret offshore world of Kenya's first family, the Kenyattas, regarded as one of the country’s richest families with assets spanning banking, insurance, media and vast swathes of agricultural land.
Many stories of financial crimes remain to be told, but they take time, skill and courage to complete. Thanks to Money Trail, many more journalists are equipped to take on the challenge of bringing wrongdoing to light.
