Prosecuting Covid-19 corruption is hard. This is why.
Hello, and welcome to Oligarchy. We are tracking how Covid-19 and the world’s response to it is affecting the super-rich — and what that means for power and politics.
A SECOND PANDEMIC
As I have repeatedly highlighted in this newsletter, Covid-19 is not bad for everyone. It may be killing hundreds of thousands of people, devastating communities, and destroying prosperity but – for oligarchs, fraudsters, crooked officials, dodgy lawyers and their assistants – it’s a gold mine. Governments are desperately spending money to support businesses and hospitals, without the time to conduct the usual checks on where that money goes, which means it’s easier to steal than ever.
Even in wealthy, well-resourced countries, there are worries over how rules on public spending have been bypassed. In places with already entrenched corruption, the pandemic has unleashed a feeding frenzy, which could fatally undermine efforts to fight the disease. Under the circumstances, it’s clear that tackling this kind of corruption should now become even more urgent than it was before – but how should the world go about that?
It is obviously foolish to expect the same law enforcement agencies that are stealing money to investigate, arrest and jail themselves. Once a country has been overwhelmed by kleptocracy, there is no honesty left in its public services. But it is not foolish to expect major Western countries to investigate bad behavior by their own companies, or to prevent stolen money from entering their financial systems. If someone steals money from a hospital, they shouldn’t get to spend it in Manhattan, Madrid, Monaco or Mayfair.