Getting To Know OCCRP, The Institution That Added Jokowi To The Blacklist Of One Of The Most Corrupt Figures In 2024

JAKARTA An organization called the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project or OCCRP suddenly became the talk of the Indonesian people. This non-governmental organization focuses on investigating organized crimes and corruption and has just released a list of the most corrupt world figures in 2024.

What made OCCRP even more attention was that the Seventh President of the Republic of Indonesia Jokowi Widodo was included in the blacklist of nominations for corrupt figures in 2024. There were four other figures who were included in the category, namely Kenyan President William Ruto, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina, and Indian businessman Gautamam Adani.

Citing its official website, OCCRP was founded by investigative journalists Drew Sullivan and Paul Raud in 2007 and started work in Eastern Europe by cooperating with several partners and has grown to become a major force in collaborative investigative journalism.

OCCRP emphasized that their vision is to make the world more informed and the space for democracy not threatened by crime and corruption.

"Our mission is to spread and strengthen investigative journalism around the world and uncover crimes and corruption. So that people can ask for accountability from the authorities," reads the OCCRP page.

The OCCRP X account says they invite nominations for the Personal of the Year in Crime and Corruption award every year. But the number of nominations is not the final vote," OCCRP said.

"The judges reviewed all the nominations, but the final decision was entirely in their hands," wrote the official OCCRP account.

Since 2012 OCCRP has routinely released an annual list highlighting individuals who are considered to have played a significant role in corrupt practices and organized crimes around the world. The selection of these figures is carried out openly to the public and can be accessed through OCCRP social media.

On the Google form page provided, it is stated that OCCRP received nominations submitted by a number of circles, ranging from the public, journalists, academics, business actors to law enforcement officials.

Based on the jury's assessment, the title of Person of the Year 2024 in the Organization Crime and Corruption was awarded to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who recently ousted his country's militias after 24 powers with his iron hands and brutality.

Alia Ibrahim, co-founder of Daraj.com as well as a jury, described Assad as a dictator like his father. He called the Assad the dimensions of crime and corruption inconceivable and destroyed the lives of many people, even beyond the borders of his own country.

Not only that, but OCCRP also believes that other nominations meet the requirements as corrupt, as the judges consider the scale and impact of their actions at the global level.

Prior to this, OCCRP named Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev as an Organized and Corrupt Crime Figure in 2012. A similar "appreciation" was given to Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014. Then in 2017, it was Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's turn to be blacklisted by the OCCRP version.

During its operation, OCCRP forced more than 702 world officials to resign or be suspended from office. Reports from this institution resulted in more than 620 charges, various sentences, up to more than 100 corporate actions.

The organization also received a number of awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize for reports on the Panama Papers Series. Then in 2023, the OCCRP was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Professor Wolfgang Wagner at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam for his work "contributing to peace by exposing political corruption and organized crime."

Returning to the issue of Jokowi's election as one of the most corrupt figures in 2024. This result certainly invites polemics, ranging from the credibility of the organization to the method of selecting figures which is carried out by voting. OCCRP research on leaders involved in organized and most corrupt crimes in the world is considered weak according to the founder of the Haidar Alwi Institute (HAI) R Haidar Alwi. He emphasized that all forms of crime cannot be proven by polling or polling.

"Evidence of a crime or a violation of the law is through a trial in court. Not through a poll or opinion poll," said Haidar Alwi.

According to him, until now there has been not a single court decision to sentence Jokowi to be guilty of committing a criminal act of corruption. Even the alleged crime of being organized in the presidential election to win one of the candidate pairs was also not proven in the Constitutional Court (MK).

Haidar Alwi considers this accusation a real mistake and can damage Jokowi's reputation and good name in the eyes of the Indonesian people and even the world.

In the midst of a polemic about the release of OCCRP, criminal law observer Masykur Isnan said the most important thing is to ensure the credibility of cross-continental independence institutions, investigative capabilities, and networks.

"But the release results need mutual attention," said Masykur Isnan.

"In Jokowi's context, when international institutions are interested in studying this far away, it means that what is happening in Indonesia is also an international concern. Of course, this is again not an ordinary thing, especially when there is a negative image that arises for Indonesia," he added.

Regarding the method of polling chosen in this process, Masykur Isnan said it was normal and free. The most important thing, he said, is how openness or transparency, as well as the credibility and responsibility of the initiator must be present from upstream and downstream.

"Public challenges must dare to be answered objectively and scientifically considering this is a process that cannot only be based on subjectivity or certain interests, it must be properly guarded because the leader or former leader of the country is not just anyone, there is historical legitimacy," he stressed.