COVID was a major source of global corruption
The great pandemic that caused millions of deaths around the world and generated terror among many people, has filled the pockets of others who took advantage of the confusion with which panic and urgency forced governments to arbitrate extraordinary budgets and invest extraordinary amounts in aid and the search for vaccines and other measures to deal with the seriousness of the danger. Already, a variety of scams and illicit deals have been uncovered in several countries using the money generated by covid to save lives and care for the needy.
In the United States, the U.S. Attorney's Office has released an initial balance sheet of the money found to have been swindled by unscrupulous individuals of various stripes. Special offices have been set up to follow up and see what possibilities there are for justice to act against them and, what is seen as the most difficult, to recover as much of the stolen money as possible. The Attorney General, Merrick Garlan, has confirmed that a total of 836 million dollars have been uncovered so far. This is not yet a definitive figure: the impression is that it will be much higher when investigations are completed.
It is largely a question of the fraudulent appropriation of extraordinary budgets approved to alleviate the emergency by both the Administration and the Congress of Deputies, not including those approved by the States. The perpetrators are varied, ranging from one individual who appropriated one million in a single day, to scams carried out by criminal organisations set up with all speed to act on appropriations and investments. The number of suspects under investigation is still higher than those identified. A large part of the offences identified - around 124 million - are false tax declarations of entities and individuals.
Most of the various scams uncovered relate to 2021. The belief is that in the year two thousand and twenty-two some fake businesses and scams will continue to occur, which is why the data provided so far is provisional. Some cases have international links. And experts are sure that the same or similar situations have occurred in other countries. Experienced researchers recommend that governments should also proceed to check the legality of investments and act accordingly. Swindling health money should be considered a double crime. The severity of the pandemic and the widespread crisis caused by covid was a ripe situation for unscrupulous individuals, including public officials and private criminals, to "cash in", as the saying goes.