In a crisis, there’s no time for bureaucracy. But the special expedited procedures now being used by European governments to buy medical supplies have raised serious transparency concerns — and dodgy purchases are already multiplying.

Long-time rivals Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz signed on Monday a power-sharing deal that allows them to form a new emergency government, ending Israel’s year-long political deadlock but also giving Netanyahu, indicted in three corruption cases, the right to veto the appointment of a new state prosecutor and attorney general.

The Danish government announced on Saturday that none of its US$58 billion in coronavirus aid would be issued to companies that register in tax havens, pay out dividends, or buy back their own shares. 

Jordanian military intelligence summoned on Sunday a columnist for a “talk” after he published a piece claiming the country won’t be able to pay public servants in May, sources told OCCRP.

Authorities in the Czech Republic have issued guidance on emergency cybersecurity measures as the country steels itself for a sophisticated attack on its communication and information systems, including those used in hospitals.

A shipment of medical supplies from the United Arab Emirates for Bulgaria’s fight against coronavirus consisted mostly of dried dates, OCCRP’s member center in Bulgaria, Bivol, has revealed.

With coronavirus cramping the usual activities of gangsters, organized crime is increasingly going online, experts said on Thursday, following the bust of a group attempting to sell millions of non-existent masks to German health authorities.

In a bid to stop COVID-19 from spreading through its prisons, Turkey plans to release tens of thousands of criminals including gangsters and attempted murderers – but no journalists or political prisoners will be freed, according to activists who condemned the move on Thursday.

In an controversial set of moves, the Jordanian military released on Sunday two executives of a private TV station who were arrested three days earlier for broadcasting a report about people who are suffering financial difficulties due to the country’s coronavirus lockdown.

As US authorities and manufacturers reveal cases of fraud and price gouging within the booming face mask industry, some bring to light greater problems than just the scams themselves. 

Iraqi authorities have suspended on Tuesday the licence ofReuters, one of the world’s leading news agencies, after it published earlier this month a story alleging that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country was higher than officially reported.

A Romanian national healthcare supplier bought a million masks of questionable quality from a convicted organized crime associate with political ties.

Ukraine’s capital Kyiv canceled a deal for 400 thermal imaging cameras after OCCRP member center Slidstvo found the supplier was unlawfully awarded a US$2.2 million contract.

With most shops, cafes and restaurants closed for over a month, many Italians were left without income but according to media, poor people in the south of the country are getting their food supplies from an alternative source—the mafia. 

Brazil’s state of Rio de Janeiro has widened a “volunteer work programme” for which inmates receive reduced sentences and which human rights groups claim is illegal, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported last week.

An armed group has pulled off a daring heist at a gold mine in Mexico amid warnings that the coronavirus pandemic has made the sector vulnerable to organised crime.

A controversial businessman known as ‘Serbian Al Capone’ and considered the region’s top narco-boss died in a Belgrade hospital on Sunday after suffering from respiratory complications caused by COVID-19, Serbian investigative outletKRIK reported.

Cambodian police arrested a journalist for quoting the country’s prime minister who spoke about the economic consequences of COVID-19 and authorities revoked the license of the journalist’s news site.

The Ukrainian government has set aside 5,000 coronavirus testing kits imported from China for exclusive use by members of parliament and other senior public officials, according to documents obtained on Thursday by OCCRP member center Slidstvo.

U.S. President Donald Trump replaced the recently appointed inspector general who was tasked with overseeing the country’s US$2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill, reports said on Tuesday. Critics argue the move is part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to discharge and intimidate anyone who might go against its will.