OCCRP Names Yevgeny Prigozhin as Person of the Year in Organized Crime and Corruption Category

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project ( OCCRP ) has named Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner PMC, as its Person of the Year in the organized crime and corruption category. The center announced this in a press release.

"Yevgeny Prigozhin has become a living symbol of Russia's worst horrors this year. Dirty money, primal violence, cynicism and impunity even in the face of Russian law — all the derivatives of state-sanctioned corruption are united in his figure," the OCCRP said.

According to OCCRP editor-in-chief and co-founder Drew Sullivan, Prigozhin earned the award for his work in “expanding Russia’s brutal and corrupt influence, his willingness to loot for Vladimir Putin and punish dissenters.”

The center’s report places particular emphasis on Prigozhin’s Wagner PMC, which “is known for the bloody trail it has left in conflict zones around the world.” “Wherever Wagner fighters go, human rights abuses follow. From Syria to Cameroon, from Somalia to Mali, they have been accused of rape, robbery, murder, and torture,” the OCCRP report says.

• OCCRP has been awarding its Person of the Year award in the field of organized crime and corruption since 2012. In 2014, the center awarded the award to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and in 2021 to Alexander Lukashenko.
• The Wagner PMC has been involved in the full-scale war in Ukraine since its inception. Its mercenaries, many of whom are former prisoners, have been accused of numerous war crimes.