Europe's COVID-19 Spending Spree Unmasked
Europe's COVID-19 Spending Spree Unmasked
As countries across Europe went into lockdown earlier this year to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, there was one early and obvious casualty: transparency. In the rush to obtain critical supplies, many countries suspended their usual public procurement rules, resulting in billions of euros of spending that remains largely hidden from the public.
So we at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) decided to find out what happened to that money.
Along with media partners in 37 countries, we collected information from over 37,000 COVID-19 related tenders and contracts worth over 20.8 billion euros (U.S $24.5 billion), running from February to October this year. They cover key goods such as personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, tests, and medications.
What we found was often fascinating. (OCCRP - Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, 21.10.2020)
https://www.occrp.org/en/coronavirus/europes-covid-19-spending-spree-unmasked