Political Corruption and White-Collar Crime Related to Covid-19 Countermeasures

Abstract

—From the beginning of 2020, the emergence and spread of Covid-19 has very astonishing implications for almost the entire world population. During increasingly complicated global conditions, there is a tremendous need to respond. However, it turned out that there were acts of abuse of authority by government officials. Using a research strategy through archive studies, mainly numerous news from the internet, the data were analyzed with content analysis. This qualitative-descriptive research examines forms of political corruption and patterns of White-Collar Crime (WCC) related to handling the Covid-19 pandemic carried out by government officials in several countries in the world, including Indonesia. This study finds two forms of political corruption, namely those committed by government employees and corporations. This study also shows that the educational backgrounds of the perpetrators are relatively good, and the actors take advantage of high-end networks in carrying out their actions. The impact of the crime in the context of handling the pandemic in several countries is threatening people's lives in the broadest spectrum.