The international organization "Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project" (OCCRP) awarded the "corruptor of the year" title to the founder of "PMC Wagner", the so-called chef of Putin Yevgeny Prigozhin.
This is stated on the OCCRP website.
It was reported there that since the beginning of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an illegal private army has been fighting on the side of the Kremlin, which is being actively replenished with prisoners from Russian colonies.
"At its head is Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and mercenary leader who this year has become perhaps the most conspicuous avatar of everything that is darkest about his motherland. In his fusion of crooked money and brutal violence, his sneering cynicism, and his impunity in the face of even Russian law, he embodies the malevolence of state-sponsored corruption in a way few can match," OCCRP noted.
In addition to Prigozhin, the European Court of Justice, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, claimed this title.
Last year, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, received the title of "corruptionist of the year".