Mediapart’s Report on OCCRP Misrepresented by BJP; Org Calls it 'Fake News'

Mediapart's report makes no mention of India, Indian politics, the Congress party, or Rahul Gandhi.

Nowhere in its entire report does Mediapart refer to India, Rahul Gandhi, or the Congress party in any way.

(Source: X/Wikipedia/Altered by The Quint)

Days after French investigative online newspaper Mediapart published a report about their findings related to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project's (OCCRP) US-linked funding, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shared a thread of posts on X (formerly Twitter), drawing parallels between the organisation and the Indian National Congress (INC).

It shared a screenshot of Mediapart's report, asking why OCCRP was "connected with Rahul Gandhi?" while claiming to explore ties between OCCRP and the Congress.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

In subsequent posts, it alleged that the organisation and Gandhi had worked together to push 'narratives' and that Gandhi had "complied" with their attempts to "set the agenda" while "running hit jobs against the Adani Group."

This, the BJP claimed, was a pattern, highlighting the OCCRP's coverage on Adani, the Pegasus app and Brazil's 2021 suspension of import for Covaxin, alleging that the Congress raised these issues only after their reports had come to light.

Accusing the OCCRP of going "out of its way to defend Rahul Gandhi," the party highlighted that the organisation had received funding from foundations owned by Hungarian businessman and investor George Soros and that Gandhi was:

• "known to have connections with Soros,"

• "interacting with someone working against our national interests," and

• Linked to an OCCRP reporter who allegedly helped raise funds for the Congress.

(Swipe to view posts.)

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Source: X/Screenshot)

Does Mediapart Talk About Congress or Gandhi?

We went through Mediapart's report, which talks about OCCRP and how they allegedly "hid the extent of its links with the US government," exploring the amount of funding the organisation received from Washington.

It also spoke about the US government not permitting OCCRP to use these funds to investigate issues related to the country while holding a right to veto any new senior-level staff appointments.

Nowhere in its entire report does Mediapart refer to India, Rahul Gandhi, or the Congress party in any way.

A search for the term 'India' on Mediapart showed several reports which predominantly spoke about the Rafale deal controversy.

Running the same search on OCCRP led us to a dedicated section for India which, in 2024, covered several stories related to the Adani Group and one report on the India-Canada diplomatic row.

Their reports extensively covered the Adani Group.

(Source: OCCRP/Screenshot)

'BJP wrongly exploited Mediapart’s article'

In a statement to The Wire, Carine Fouteau, Mediapart's publisher and director, said that the organisation condemned the "instrumentalisation" of its report by BJP, "in order to serve BJP’s political agenda and attack press freedom."

Fouteau said that the, "BJP wrongly exploited Mediapart’s article in order to spread fake news that we never published”.

She clarified that there are "no facts available supporting the conspiracy theory promoted by BJP."

So, What Does Their Article Talk About?

The report, titled 'The hidden links between a giant of investigative journalism and the US government', explores how and when the OCCRP was founded and how it came to be the global network of independent investigative journalists it is today.

Detailing OCCRP's first project, it spoke about how, over the years, Drew Sullivan, the project's co-founder and publisher, worked with personnel from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),  United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), and the State department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) to bolster the project.

It elaborated on the power Washington allegedly holds over the organisation, which enables the nation to 'veto' nominations for senior level positions in OCCRP.

Mediapart's investigation also dove into OCCRP's funding, its investigative work, and its past projects focussing on Russia, Malta, Venezuala, and Cyprus.

It spoke about US government-funded projects in other countries.

(Source: Mediapart/Screenshot)

'Report... Distorts Facts': OCCRP

In an announcement shared on 2 December on its website, the OCCRP issued its statement following Mediapart's report, stating that it "distorts facts."

"A story published today has raised questions about OCCRP’s funding and strongly implies that we are influenced by our donors. This is simply wrong. OCCRP has no limits on its journalism and no donor influences our reporting," it reads.

It said that the story was not able to "cite a single instance of inaccuracy or influence" in their work, but "relied instead on insinuation and implication," elaborating that their editorial process had built in safeguards to ensure they maintained independence, especially as a donor-funded organisation.

(Source: OCCRP/Screenshot)

However, as per Mediapart's investigation, between 2014 and 2023, 52 percent of OCCRP's funds came from the US government.

(Source: Mediapart/Screenshot)

The organisation refuted this figure, clarifying that the actual number was close to 46 percent.

(Source: Mediapart/Altered by The Quint)

Is the BJP's Version of Events Accurate?

So far, we have established that Mediapart's investigation did not speak about India at all, and that the OCCRP countered their findings while denying allegations of reigning in its criticism of or investigations into the US government.

The BJP, however, believes that the Congress has close ties with OCCRP because the party has referred to the organisation's reportage while bringing up issues in press conferences, on social media, and in Parliament.

In it's second post in the thread, BJP claims that the Congress had only spoken about Brazil pulling out of a Covaxin deal with India in 2021 only after OCCRP's report in July, despite the news being broken in June 2021.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

While it's true that OCCRP published its report on 1 July 2021, it is pertinent to note that most news organisations, including The Quint, had published articles only a day prior, on 30 June.

(Swipe)

(Source: OCCRP/Altered by The Quint)

(Source: Google Search/Altered by The Quint)

(Source: The Quint)

It claimed that the pattern was repeated when it came to reports related to the Pegasus spyware, accusing the Congress of beginning to 'push the narrative' after OCCRP's report came out on 18 August 2021.

However, we found several mentions about the spyware on Congress' official X account, all of which predated the report by Anand Mangnale, the organisation's regional editor for south Asia.

(Swipe).

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

The BJP drew more parallels between Rahul Gandhi and OCCRP, including claims about his association with Soros.

It shared a photo showing him with an OCCRP journalist from Bangladesh, Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, saying, "Why Rahul Gandhi was interacting with someone working against our national interests remains unclear."

(Source: X/Screenshot)

The photograph was taken during Gandhi's visit to the US in May 2024, when he spoke at a press conference where Ansarey was in attendance.

In a subsequent post, the BJP alleged that OCCRP also receives fundings from "deep state" figures like George Soros and the Rockefeller Foundation.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

However, when we checked the official website of OCCRP, we did not find any mention of the Rockefeller Foundation funding or supporting the former.

The Quint has reached out to Mediapart for their statement on BJP's posts and OCCRP for their inputs regarding these allegations. We will update this report as and when responses are received.

(Editor's Note: The story has been updated to reflect the discrepancies in funders of OCCRP.)