Untold: Power for Sale Financial Times
-
- News
-
In December 2022, offices at the European parliament were raided and lawmakers and their relatives were arrested. They were accused of being part of a corruption ring that was taking bribes from Qatar. Never before had there been anything like this at the parliament. But within four months, all the suspects were released, and the case is still pending. Why were members of parliament accused of taking bribes from Qatar? Is the European parliament rotten? Valentina Pop and a team of FT correspondents set out to investigate.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
-
Power for Sale, Ep. 4: Business as Usual
With elections just weeks away, and news of more foreign interference scandals in the European parliament, the reporting team gives an accounting of where the investigation and the suspects are to date.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Power for Sale, Ep. 3: Belgiangate
It seemed like the Belgians had everything they needed to bring a case against the people involved with Qatargate, but the investigation hit a wall. Valentina and the reporting team speak to the prosecution side to find out why.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Power for Sale, Ep. 2: Ocean’s Eleven
Through wiretap transcripts and surveillance footage, captured by Belgian intelligence, Valentina and the investigative reporting team learn just who is involved with this scandal and how it all worked.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Power for Sale, Ep. 1: 'Bags full of money'
Valentina learns of raids and arrests at the European parliament and a scandal unfolds. They talk to the face of the scandal, Eva Kaili, and hear about the day of the raids through her eyes.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Introducing Untold: Power for Sale
Introducing Power for Sale, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. In Untold: Power for Sale, host Valentina Pop and a team of FT correspondents from all over Europe investigate what happened in the Qatargate scandal, where EU lawmakers were accused of accepting payments from Qatar to whitewash its image.
Untold: Power for Sale airs May 29. Follow wherever you listen.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
The Retreat, Ep. 4: Another Death
Madison Marriage hears of another death, one that happened five years before Jaqui’s. Was the Goenka network aware of the dangers of intensive meditation? Marriage asks what the organisation is doing, if anything, to protect people from harm.
For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website.
If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US, or Samaritans in the UK.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Customer Reviews
unfair criticism towards this podcast
The podcast is well produced and the host poised and professional. I find some of the negative reviews a bit unfair. I don’t understand why calling the investigation biased when In ep2 the host clearly engages with experts to try and understand more about extreme meditation and the possible impact on the mind. There was never an implication that meditation is bad per se, only that it cam be for certain people, and most importantly for this reason, it should be approached more personably instead of the generalised one size fits all approach, which is what happens in all those retreats.
I don’t understand the controversy with the content - ie most people tolerate a certain kind of recreational drug or mood-stabilising medication, whether some other people might even die or experience severe side effects because of it.
Like what was said in ep2, any mind-altering practice or pharmaceuticals can either help or damage the nervous system on some levels. Crucially, sustained sleep deprivation, on top of meditating obsessively, is the absolute perfect recipe for an hypo-maniac episode. It’s not that controversial really! It is a totally believable argument.
Power for sale
Excellent investigation. Thank you for putting light to the facts and being so upfront. Great podcast.
Now, as a voter, how can we be efficient and vote for the right person? That a question which remains
Really interesting and gripping
Thought this was a really interesting, gripping and well told story about the risks involved, for some people, in this type of meditation. The journalist makes clear they are rare but also devastating when they do happen.
From reading about the organisation involved they have also clearly helped a lot of people, which isn’t being disputed, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that they there should be more awareness of risks for people getting involved and the need for better training and safeguarding procedures for staff.
Some of the people criticising seem to be very defensive which is a shame as that prevents inclusivity and progression and a positive way forward for everyone.