The Impact: Coronavirus and Organized Crime Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

It's been a while since our previous episode of The Impact. But in that time the Global Initiative has continued to track the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on organized crime around the world.
As the rest of the world shut down, the adaptability and agility of criminal networks has been clear to see – they have found new routes for illegal commodities, from drugs to people.
In this special episode Jack introduces Lindy Mtongana and her interview with the Director of the Global Initiative, Mark Shaw, and the Deputy Director, Tuesday Reitano to discuss their new book - Criminal Contagion: How Mafias, Gangsters and Scammers Profit from a Pandemic.
You can also watch the interview here.
Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.


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Brazil is a vast country of some 211 million people. A nation full of energy but also plagued by crime; powerful criminal networks like the PCC and Red Commando battle over international and domestic drug trafficking routes. Then there is illegal logging, gold mining, land invasion, human trafficking, high levels of violence, highly militarised law enforcement and a huge corruption scandal that rocked the Brazilian political class.
And now COVID-19 has struck and Brazil has the second highest number of cases in the world.
Presenter(s)
Ana Paula Oliveira / Jack Meegan-Vickers
Guests
Antonio Sampaio, a research fellow at the International institute for Strategic Studies, the host of the Sounds Strategic Podcast and a member of the GI Network of Experts
Christian Vianna De Azevedo, an academic researcher, and law enforcement officer who specialises in transnational organised crime and terrorism. Christian is also a member of the GI Network of experts
Gabriel de Santis Feltran, a Professor at the Federal University of Sao Carlos in Sao Paulo state and member of the GI Network of experts
Adriana Erthal Abdenur, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Plataforma CIPÓ and a member of the GI Network of experts.
Additional Reading
‘Illicit order: The militarized logic of organized crime and urban security in Rio de Janeiro’


This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

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In this bonus episode of The Impact: Coronavirus and Organized Crime, Jack sits down with author and former NPR foreign correspondent, Sarah Chayes.
In this extended version of the interview which was part of the COVID and Corruption episode, Sarah talks about her experience of studying corruption around the world and how kleptocratic networks capture state institutions, even in the United States.
Sarah Chayes is the author of Thieves of State and the upcoming book On Corruption in America.


This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

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A different sounding episode as Jack sits down with a collection of organized crime experts to discuss what we have seen over the past few months and what might happen next.
Guests:
Tuesday Reitano, Deputy Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Nirmal Ghosh, US Bureau Chief for The Straits Times and member of the GI Network of experts
Joyce Kimani, the Observatory Coordinator for  East and Horn of Africa at the GI
Guillermo Vazquez, Senior Analyst at the GI
Lyes Tagziria, Analyst at the GI
Ana Paula, Analyst at the GI
Faces of Assassination


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This Pandemic is causing huge economic impacts. The World Bank has forecast a contraction of 5.3% in global GDP in 2020 – that is the deepest global recession in decades leaving lasting scars on the lives of people living all over the world.
And this could manifest itself in many ways - a rush to push government policy through to help combat the immediate effects of COVID means that the usual stringent checks may be ignored.
And organized criminal networks are positioning themselves to capture state institutions and contracts – enriching themselves at the expense of the public.
Guests
Andy Guth - adjunct professor and an expert on anti-corruption and how it works with transnational organized crime groups.
Professor Adriano Nuvunga - Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development in Mozambique and a leading civil society activist.
Vanda Felbab-Brown - Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and also a member of the GI Network of experts.
Ambassador Ugi Zvekic - Senior Adviser at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime.
Faces of Assassination


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It’s clear that throughout the recorded history of humanity, corruption has been present – and in a modern context Transparency International define corruption as the “abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. 
In this time of unprecedented economic recession due to the COVID health crisis, organized corruption networks, are in a perfect position to bleed the system and organized criminal groups will be in line to slice off their share.
When huge economic stimuli are injected into the system, it causes unintended consequences. As one of our guests today wrote that "an emergency offers unparalleled opportunities for the coordinated looting of public coffers that feeds such networks. Life is upended; emotions run high. In the scramble, tested procedures are ignored and structures are disorganized. Exhausted decision makers, pressured to “do something,” miss crucial details, even as quantities of cash are injected into the chaos.”
Guests
Sarah Steingrüber - Independent Global Health Consultant/U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre
Innocent Chukwuma - Director, West Africa at the Ford Foundation
Sarah Chayes - Journalist and Author, Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security AND the upcoming book On Corruption in America.
Ana Castro - Coordinator for Central America at Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Faces of Assassination
Global Initiative Podcasts


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