Documents Reveal Wagner’s Golden Ties to Sudanese Military Companies, 2 November 2022

...Multiple media reports over the past few years have exposed the role of Meroe Gold Limited, a Sudanese company within the Wagner network, and examined how Wagner appears to be giving support and advice to Sudan’s brutal dictatorship in order to access gold. Now, OCCRP, working in partnership with Le Monde, has obtained leaked documents, including contracts, letters, and internal memos, that provide new details of how Meroe’s parent company M Invest — which is owned by Prigozhin — paid millions of dollars to a company operated by Sudanese military intelligence. In exchange, it obtained access to residence permits and weapons for its Russian personnel. Meroe also appears to have received special treatment from the Sudanese presidency, according to leaked correspondence...

... Prigozhin repeatedly denied having any connection to Meroe, or indeed Wagner. Over several years, he even sued media outlets that claimed Wagner belonged to him. Not until September did Prigozhin admit he had founded the company — not long after videos of him recruiting Russian prisoners to fight with Wagner in Ukraine appeared online...