Andrei Ciurcanu

Andrei has been a member of RISE Project since 2014, and in 2019 he joined the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) investigative platform. Previously, he worked as an investigative reporter in television and print media – Evenimentul Zilei, Reporterii Realității, and În Premieră.

Since 2006, Andrei has conducted investigations into organized crime groups, human and organ trafficking, corruption, and environmental crime. He has written about the behind-the-scenes aspects of the “Bechtel affair,” about the largest illegal restitution case in Romania’s history – the Ghika Comănești Case – involving damages exceeding €300 million, and about how illegally logged timber was connected to the business of Romania’s largest wood-processing company, Holzindustrie Schweighofer.

He coordinated and produced a series of environmental investigations into illegal forestry exploitation. These investigations formed part of the complaints submitted to the European Commission, which was prompted to take legal action against the Romanian authorities.

He has collaborated with media outlets such as Al Jazeera, The Guardian, and Arte.

In 2016, he won the Gold Award for Best Investigative Report at the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards, and in 2011 he was a finalist in the Investigative Documentary category at the Association for International Broadcasting in London.