Tom Bolsius

Huaweigate, one year on: the latest from the scandal that rocked Brussels Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

A year ago, the Huaweigate scandal rocked Brussels.

But the prosecution of MEPs allegedly involved has hit a few roadblocks - including an embarrassing mistake by Belgian authorities:

www.ftm.eu/newsletters/...

These are the top European football clubs doing deals with Russia in wartime More than four years after Russia invaded Ukraine, European clubs continue to carry out multi-million-euro transfers with Russian teams. The deals offer Russian sides a vital financial lifeline – and ...

War or not, Russia remains active on Europe’s football transfer market. Since the invasion of Ukraine, €277.2m in transfers have taken place between Russian and European clubs despite sanctions. The deals bring cash to Russian state-linked clubs and propaganda value for the regime.

‘Divide and conquer’: U.S. businesses bully Brussels into weakening supply chain rules The EU’s flagship corporate sustainability law has been massively scaled back following industry pushback. Leaked documents shared with Follow the Money reveal how a secretive U.S. lobby piled pressur...

Big corporations. Big influence.

An EU law meant to hold corporations accountable for human rights and environmental abuses in their supply chains (CS3D) has been heavily stripped back after pressure from a secret U.S. lobbying group of 11 multinationals, including ExxonMobil and Honeywell.

What a tiny African nation reveals about the harsh reality of Trump’s tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump imposed eye-watering tariffs on Lesotho and cut aid last year, plunging the small African nation into turmoil. Brussels and Beijing are now looking at ways to expand their ...

After Trump mocked a country he said “nobody had ever heard of”, the US imposed tariffs and cut most aid. Lesotho, the “denim capital of Africa”, built its economy on US exports. Now tens of thousands of jobs are at risk and an emergency has been declared.

FTM is hiring a Growth & Partnerships Manager Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹. 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂?

Follow the Money is hiring a Growth & Partnerships Manager (EU) to grow our award-winning investigative journalism.

📍 Amsterdam / Brussels | ⏱ 32h
📅 Apply by 22 Feb 2026

For more info and to apply, visit our website below 👇

Court rules Dutch state fails to protect the Caribbean island of Bonaire, part of the Netherlands, from climate change

Greenpeace brought the case for residents. The court said Bonaire was treated differently from the European Netherlands, violating the ban on discrimination. 💣

Nederlandse staat beschermt inwoners van Bonaire onvoldoende tegen klimaatverandering Greenpeace spande de zaak aan, namens de inwoners van Bonaire. De rechter bepaalde dat de staat de inwoners van Bonaire, in het Caribische deel van Nederland, anders heeft behandeld dan de inwoners van Europese Nederland – en daarmee het verbod op discriminatie heeft geschonden.

Nederlandse staat beschermt inwoners van Bonaire onvoldoende tegen klimaatverandering

Geoeconomics is reshaping the world – here’s what you need to know (with a twist) To understand the balance of power in the world, geopolitics is not enough. Geoeconomics matters more than ever. But what exactly is it? This comic strip by Follow the Money breaks it down for you.

Why does Trump want Greenland? Not for its ice or fjords. It’s about power. Today, influence is exercised through trade, tech, and economics, not just battlefields. This is the era of geoeconomics, quietly but aggressively reshaping the world.

Our comic strip explains how it works.

Ik vroeg me dit dus 8 maanden geleden af

Newsletter | Who in Europe will call out Trump’s lawlessness? Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

⚖️ Our first Crime & Corruption newsletter of 2026 is anything but quiet. This week:

Trump’s capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro puts Europe in a bind over the rule of law; AI dominates talks at the UN anti-corruption conference in Doha; and Europe watches as Marine Le Pen’s appeal trial begins.

Certified failure? EU-funded battery training rewards learners for 0% test scores Backed by millions in EU funding, clean tech company InnoEnergy claims it has trained more than 100,000 people to work in Europe’s battery industry. But some of its courses can be completed in minutes...

🪫 Fancy becoming a battery expert in a few clicks?

InnoEnergy used EU taxpayer money to boast claims it trained over 100,000 people.

But FTM found flawed figures, counting certificates not people, including failed or incomplete courses, and even children playing an educational Minecraft game.

Newsletter | America first (with a helping hand from Europe’s Nokia and Siemens) Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

America first? Not quite.

🗞️🇪🇺 This week in Bureau Brussels: the U.S.’s push to dominate artificial intelligence gets a boost from EU firms, the Commission’s enforcement of EU law appears to be easing, and polluting companies take states to court.

Gas, lies, and videotape: How a gas project in Bulgaria brought chaos to EU’s anti-corruption body A corruption probe into a strategically important Bulgarian gas project – designed to loosen Europe’s dependence on Russian energy and long opposed by Moscow – has descended into chaos. A kompromat ca...

A key EU project meant to wean Europe off Russian gas has been derailed. So has the corruption probe into it, exposing failures in Bulgaria and at EU level.

At the heart of the case are corruption allegations, a sudden death, a smear campaign against the prosecutor, and her suspension.

Wanten

(Cc @koppenverklapt.bsky.social)

www.telegraaf.nl/lifestyle/ge...

(Ik heb verder niks met het artikel van doen; het ging me meer om de getallen, maar:)

Ik snap je punt, maar ikzelf lees het meer als ‘in media wordt beweerd’ ipv ‘door de media wordt beweerd’

Ik ga het doorgeven; thanks!

From Airbus to Tesla: These are the biggest companies using the Netherlands as a tax haven The Netherlands may not be known as a tax haven – but its rules make it easy for big multinationals to avoid paying taxes in the European country.

🏢💰 From Netflix to Tesla to Pfizer: trillions in corporate revenues are routed through the Netherlands each year, with much of it passing through untaxed.

Our latest analysis maps the top 15 multinationals benefiting most from Dutch tax rules.

Our most-read stories of 2025 Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

Which stories mattered most in 2025?

This year, we uncovered stories powerful actors would rather keep hidden, from corruption in the European Parliament to data privacy failures, sanctions dodging and hidden lobbying in Brussels. We’ve compiled the top 10 most-read investigations of the year.

Europe Uncovered 2025: the stories that shook the continent Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

This end-of-year edition of Europe Uncovered brings together the most impactful investigations of the year.

From corruption and war crimes to surveillance, sanctions-busting and environmental harm, these are the stories journalists exposed that powerful actors would rather keep hidden.

Newsletter | This is how our journalists will remember 2025 Follow the Money - Platform for investigative journalism

We’re closing the year with a special edition of Bureau Brussels. Our reporters look back on the moments that defined their work in 2025 – from playground Pfizergate revelations to last-minute publishing pressure and a Daphne Prize–winning investigation.

www.ftm.eu/newsletters/...

Huge payout to Dutch pig giant highlights cost of farming policy flip-flop The Dutch government is spending billions of euros to buy out livestock farmers and cut nitrogen emissions. The owner of the Netherlands’ biggest pigsty, who once received subsidies to build his mega-...

Europe’s green farming paradox: who really benefits? 🐷🌿

The Netherlands spends billions to cut livestock pollution, yet its biggest pig farmer is paid millions to shut a mega farm once backed as “green”. Our investigation shows EU farm policies still favour the largest players.

𝗪𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗲.

To keep investigating, we need to reach 50,000 members.

Reaching this goal means investing more in videos, disinformation reporting, and supporting other independent European media outlets.

💡 Support independent journalism today: www.ftm.eu/powertoaccou...

Russia’s shadow fleet shakes off Western sanctions to keep oil revenues flowing Western governments have sanctioned 636 shadow fleet tankers that transport Russian oil and fuel the Kremlin’s war chest. Yet these measures have done little to stop the illicit trade, an investigatio...

636 Russian oil tankers are sanctioned by the EU. The oil still flows.

Russia’s “shadow fleet” evades sanctions via hidden ship-to-ship transfers and owner name and flag changes. This keeps oil moving, puts waters at risk, and funnels billions into the Kremlin’s war chest.

Read our investigation:

Een kleine zoekslag naar de schrijver “Alexander Gouda” van deze brief levert vooralsnog niks op?

🪙 Did crypto really shift power to the people?

Cryptocurrency promised a financial revolution beyond banks and governments. In our recent episode, journalist Thomas Bollen explains how power ended up concentrated again – with far less regulation.

🎧 Listen here: www.ftm.eu/articles/pod...

Russia’s dark fleet goes darker as fears grow over arms smuggling and sanctions evasion Suspicious vessels linked to Russia – including its shadow fleet – are increasingly going dark, a joint investigation involving Follow the Money has found. Ships cannot be located due to disruptions t...

📡🚢 Russian-linked ships are vanishing from tracking maps across Europe’s seas. Our investigation finds their signals now drop more than twice as often as in the first year of the Ukraine war – raising fears of sanctions dodging and hidden cargo.

Read the full story: www.ftm.eu/articles/swi...

Israel’s biggest defence company suspended by NATO amid corruption probe Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons firm, is implicated in a widening NATO corruption scandal. The military alliance’s procurement agency (NSPA) has suspended the company from bidding on new contr...

Israel’s largest defence company has been suspended by NATO. A key figure associated with the company is wanted internationally for alleged bribery. The suspension blocks the company from competing for contracts worth millions.

🔗 Read the full story: www.ftm.eu/articles/isr...

⚽️🚫 What’s the penalty for violating international sanctions?

Our new investigation shows how FIFA is pressuring European clubs to pay Russian teams despite EU sanctions and frozen payment channels following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Read the full story here: www.ftm.eu/articles/fif...

Prins Constantijn houdt toezicht op zichzelf bij chaotisch en ontransparant NAVO-fonds Met een miljard aan publiek geld probeert het NAVO Innovatiefonds defensie-tech te stimuleren. Maar het fonds gaat gebukt onder interne chaos en hoge overhead. Toch werd prins Constantijn onlangs stil...

Toezicht houden op jezelf? Prins Constantijn doet het. Sinds deze zomer is hij fondsbestuurder van het NAVO Innovatiefonds, terwijl hij daar al toezichthouder was. Een dubbele rol, die zorgen over belangenverstrengeling verder aanwakkert.
www.ftm.nl/artikelen/pr...