Behind the scenes of the Belgian Special Tax Inspectorate
BRUSSELS - A lot goes wrong with our tax collection. There are so many loopholes that the tax authorities collect a lot less than what the state is entitled to. This is one of the reasons why the government has to borrow and why we have a large national debt.
How Israeli mercenaries trained the Cameroonian army
YAOUNDE - Over the past decades, a handful of Israelis have overseen and trained elite units of the Cameroonian army. Their paid services brought them millions of dollars, which they invested around the world. Meanwhile, the army unit they've trained, the BIR, has committed extensive human rights ...
How Belgium is becoming a formidable player in the deep sea
BRUSSELS - The deep, blue oceans are home to an unprecedented wealth of biodiversity, as well as the planet's last unexploited resources. The race to the ocean floor is in full swing and Belgium is in the leading group.
KABUL/KINSHASHA/JUBA - No Olympics this summer. But Elien did seek and feel the Olympic spirit: in Afghan women's football, wheelchair basketball in South Sudan and with nzozo players in Congo. These champions wouldn't have made it to the Olympics anyway, but the Olympic spirit is clearly present.
The battle between Antwerp and Rotterdam for trading positions in Brazil
PORTO DO ACU - For the construction of the Brazilian port of Porto do Açu, hundreds of families were forcibly evicted from their land. Fishermen lost their livelihoods and the promised jobs in the port never came. The port also turned up in one of the biggest corruption scandals in Brazil. All this ...
CABO DELGADO - There are diamonds, gold and a gigantic gas bubble in the ground, but that doesn't help the inhabitants of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. The government abandons them and the army can't protect them from violence. The militant Islamist group Al-Shabab manages more and more to recruit the ...
LAGOS - This series of investigations exposes the consequences of yearlong corruption in the construction and oil sectors on Nigerian life conditions, and the dodgy relationship between oil businessmen and corrupt politicians in the country.
Illegal trade of pesticides and antibiotics in Europe
BRUSSELS - There is a big illegal market for pesticides and antibiotics and these substances will still be spread, when they get banned. The industry has been able to continue the use of chlorpyrifos and expect the use to grow in the coming years, despite it has a huge and bad impact on animals and ...
BRUSSELS - We call them transmigrants. Also known as 'illegals'. Almost a swear word. Caroline van Gastel and Saar Van Eyck shed light on the harsh daily reality of a number of young women in Brussels. They come from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan where the regime oppresses the population and conflicts ...
MOSCOW - Vladimir Putin's Russia increasingly poses a security risk to Europe as it has become more and more aggressive in recent years, especially since the annexation of Crimea and occupation of Donbas. Russia has also committed assassinations on European soil, including the attempted ...
NEW YORK - The documentary 'Pride is Protest' offers an insight into the LGBTQ scene in New York, 50 years after Stonewall. Marieke Dermul and Filip Tielens went to New York for a week in June 2019 during the biggest Pride ever.
Neo-Black Movement a.k.a. Black Axe - social movement or international criminal network?
NIGERIA, GERMANY - In the 1970s Nigerian students founded a fraternity to fight against oppression and racism. Today, their name appears worldwide in connection with criminal activities. What happened?
BRUSSELS - One-third of the women in Belgium have a pension of less than 750 euros. That's little, but doesn't have to be a problem: if you are happily married, have a long career behind you and can put the money together as a couple. But for a whole group of women, this is not the case. The baby ...
ANTWERP - He was one of the most important investigative journalists in Belgium. He published revelations about the murder of the leader of the socialist party André Cools, the Gang of Nivelles, the arms trade and the extreme right. He loved the idea that those in power would have been safer without ...
KOSOVO – A well-organised trafficking network in Kosovo has prompted a large number of minors to leave for Italy. Thanks to the Zampa law, introduced in 2017, they can obtain licences to study or work if they register with the Italian immigration services. The law was intended to reduce the number ...
How cross-border illicit beer trade is hurting revenue collections in Kenya and Uganda
BUSIA, UGANDA - This story shows how the lapse in the law coupled by porous border points and tax difference is fuelling cross-border beer smuggling between Uganda and Kenya.
It depicts the colossal sums of revenues lost due to the illicit alcohol trade that is thriving between Busia, and Malaba ...
The Private Security Network of Investigative Journalists
BRUSSELS - There is very little transparency in the private security sector. Questions often remain unanswered because the contracts are withheld on the grounds of commercial confidentiality. This lack of information means it is hard if not impossible to speak truth to powerful private security ...
BRUSSELS - Belgians are top in sorting out garbage. But what happens to the PET bottles we throw in the blue bag? Exactly how many PET bottles do we recycle? And does recycling really reduces fossil plastic production?
DHAKA - The women in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka are fed up with it: they want to be able to go out on the streets without men bothering them. And so they organise their own transport through the impossibly chaotic, congested traffic: a motor-taxi with a woman at the wheel. Or they buy themselves ...
How multinational tech companies exploit tax laws and shift profit: a focus on Ghana and Nigeria
ACCRA, LAGOS - This story identifies the lapses in the current tax systems and how Ghana and Nigeria are dealing with profit shifting and tax avoidance. It exposes how major tech companies, Facebook and Google, use tax havens to avoid payment of taxes in Nigeria and Ghana, depriving these countries ...