The Impact of the COVID-19 Epidemic on the Corruption Risk in Poland

Purpose: The paper concerns with the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the corruption risk in Poland. It shows that anti-pandemic policy creates conditions for increasing corruption risk. The anti-pandemic policy effectively interferes with the legislative process, results in denial in access to public information and grants broad exclusions of criminal liability. The paper indicates that corruption factors that should be taken into account and eliminated are, sloppy work on anti-corruption laws, overly discretionary restriction of access to public information, the large number of and vague regulations excluding criminal liability. The article shows that anti-pandemic policies create the conditions for increased corruption risk in Poland. Design/Methodology/Approach: Anti-pandemic policy increases corruption risk through interference with the way laws are created, access to public information and the exclusion of criminal liability. Findings: The manner in which anti-pandemic policy is implemented creates conditions for increasing corruption risk and may in the future contribute to an increase in corruption crimes. Additionally, it may worsen Poland's standing in corruption indices, weaken its credibility in the international arena, lower the level of civic trust in the state and become a dominant dysfunction of the public sphere. Practical Implications: Corruption factors that should be taken into account and eliminated are, sloppy work on anti-corruption laws, overly discretionary restriction of access to public information, the large number of and vague regulations excluding criminal liability. Originality/value: Not the content of, but rather the way in which anti-pandemic policy has been implemented increases the risk of corruption.