This Unaccountable profile explores the involvement of BNP Paribas in enabling payments for arms transactions during the Rwandan genocide. The bank facilitated over $1.3 million in payments from the Rwandan government to arms dealer Ters Ehlers, violating UN sanctions.
Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.
Explore Open Secrets’ investigation into Willem Ters Ehlers, a former apartheid secretary turned arms dealer, whose weapons fueled the Rwandan genocide. Part of the Unaccountable series, this exposé uncovers how impunity enables profiteers of violence.
Marc Davies | Huffington Post | 02 February 2018 | Crimes of the “rich, powerful and politically well-connected” in South Africa, beginning Saturday, will come under intensified scrutiny as civil society groups rally to ‘join the dots’ in the country’s story of capture and plunder. Organisations including Open Secrets, Corruption Watch, Right2Know and the…
Open Secrets in partnership with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) are taking the fight for accountability for South Africa’s historic economic crimes to Europe using international accountability frameworks.
Today the United States celebrates its “Freedom of Information Day”. It is supposed to provide an occasion to focus on issues of public access to information and transparency in the US government. Given the extensive capacity of United States agencies, particularly their intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the US possesses considerable information about the…
The death of former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has renewed debate about his legacy, but there’s been little on its South African component. Even among Israelis, Sharon has long been a controversial figure. A career soldier, considered a brilliant strategist, but one with a history of insubordination, he brought to both his military and…
The huge batch of cables released last month by Wikileaks, dating from the 1970s, is a goldmine for researchers of power and profit in South Africa. But some of the stories we found in the cables are as frustrating as they are fascinating.