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Pre-Investment Due
Diligence Investigation, Dubai
BKI executives were requested by one of the major financial institutions
belonging to the Emirate of Dubai and specialized in property development to conduct
a pre-investment due diligence investigation on an East European real estate
development firm. Although BKI specializes in the Middle East and North Africa,
through our links to valuable sources of information in Eastern Europe, (the
“networking” that is essential to conducting worldwide investigations) we were
able to uncover evidence of a pattern of unethical business practices engaged
in by the principals of the East European investment firm. The derogatory information BKI provided
on this shady operation permitted the Dubai-based property development group to
move away from an investment which would have proven to be an
embarrassment.
Pre-Investment Due
Diligence Investigation, Dubai
BKI executives were requested by a different Dubai-based,
government-controlled property development group to conduct a pre-investment
investigation into a British-based property development firm run primarily by
Pakistani expatriates. Our
investigation not only uncovered clearly unethical business practices engaged
in by the principals of the target firm, but also the fact that legal suits had
been filed by previous investors, claiming fraud and embezzlement. We also uncovered
falsified land registration claims and provided this information to our client
in Dubai, which immediately alerted the local police, as the target firm was at
the time operating there. As a result of our information, seven executives of
the British-based property development firm located in Dubai were arrested and prosecuted. They are serving lengthy jail terms. Through
the timely receipt of the derogatory information from BKI, the Dubai
authorities were able to recover millions of dollars, which were returned to
more than 300 previous investors.
Background and Reputation
Assessment, Morocco
BKI was
requested by a US-based company seeking an influential partner to guide their
entry into commercial operations and military sales in Morocco, to conduct a due
diligence assessment of the bona fides of an individual who turned out to be an
influential member of the Moroccan Royal Family. The investigation was focused primarily on ascertaining the
individual’s reputation and on addressing US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
concerns, specifically whether the individual occupied an official position
within the Moroccan government. Once again, tapping into a network of sources,
both in Morocco and among Moroccan communities elsewhere, our report was able
to fully verify the subject’s royal status, his excellent reputation, and the
fact that he held (for family reasons) no official position in government. This enabled our client to proceed with
negotiations to secure this important Royal Family member as a local partner in
business activities in Morocco.
Legal Support, Iraq
BKI was hired by a major
Washington-based law firm, which was engaged in a long-standing litigation
concerning Iraqi weapons of mass destruction allegedly used during the first
Gulf War (1991). As part of this
litigation, BKI was asked to identify key players in the pre-1991 Iraqi weapons
programs and to see whether it was possible, even at this late date, to gain
access to them, for depositions.
Of course, many of those involved in Iraqi weapons programs pre-1991
were also involved in those programs afterwards, and thus had been detained and
questioned by American authorities post-2003. Using a network of Iraqi sources, we were able to identify
key former Iraqi WMD officials who were willing to make a deposition and we
accompanied a senior representative of the law firm to the Middle East, where
he was able to acquire these depositions, duly notarized at local U.S.
Consulates. This testimony was
immediately introduced by the law firm into this major international legal
case.
Investigation of Potential
Distribution Licensee, Iraq
BKI
executives were hired by a Fortune 500 company to provide background and due
diligence on an Iraqi company which was being considered as a potential
distributor for the US company’s medical products inside Iraq. The US company had already identified
an Iraqi businessman based in London as the potential distributor, but there
were questions as to whether this Iraqi’s company, in the post-war period,
maintained the distribution capacity inside Iraq that the London-based owner
claimed. Using our network of
long-time Iraqi sources, both in the government and in the Baghdad business
community, BKI was able to provide detailed background on the firm and its
senior Iraq-based executives, all of whom had survived the Saddam period with
reputations and capabilities relatively unscathed. This information enabled the American client to move forward
and to appoint the Iraqi firm as exclusive distributor and thus generate
millions of dollars of business at a time when similar companies, with less
capable or honest Iraqi partners, were experiencing extreme difficulty gaining
accurate market knowledge and access.
Money-Laundering
Investigation, UAE-Azerbaijan
BKI executives were asked by a major investigative firm, with limited
capabilities in the Middle East, to undertake an investigation for a client in
the former Soviet Union, on a seemingly small company located in the Ajman Free
Zone of the United Arab Emirates.
Utilizing our extensive contacts in the UAE, based on years of
first-hand experience there, we were able to ascertain that the company in the
Ajman Free Zone in fact involved no UAE nationals (this is not necessary when a
company is located in a Free Zone), but, in fact, was controlled, but not
officially owned, by senior energy sector officials in Azerbaijan, who were
using money laundered through the Ajman company to make investments in
Azerbaijan that were incompatible with their official positions.
Market-Entry
Investigation, Dubai
BKI was
contacted by a major Wall Street Brokerage, on behalf of one of their subsidiaries,
to assess the suitability of one of the major Dubai government-controlled
commercial development firms and
to provide due diligence on the expatriate CEO of that commercial development
firm. The subsidiary of the Wall
Street firm was seeking to participate in a major project being run by the
Dubai firm and wanted to make sure that ethical and Foreign Corrupt Practices
Act issues were addressed beforehand.
Although we were able to obtain extensive information on the Dubai
commercial development firm through our many sources in Dubai, it was, in fact,
a senior Arab businessman from another Gulf state, a long-time contact who does
considerable business in Dubai, who turned out to have commercial interactions
with the CEO of the Dubai firm on a regular basis and who was able to provide
extensive assessment data on him, all of which justified the decision of the
Wall Street subsidiary to enter the Dubai commercial world under the auspices
of the commercial development firm.
Stability Assessment,
Algeria
In the wake of a
series of bombings around Algiers in April, 2007, by the newly formed Al-Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), BKI was asked, given our extensive previous
experience in Algeria, by a major US-based energy sector firm with extensive
involvement in Algeria, to draft a security assessment report detailing the
implications of the rise of the AQIM, the implications of this rise for energy
sector operations in Algeria, and the potential of these developments to
disrupt regional stability. We were
able to tap into official U.S. government sources, official Algerian sources,
and numerous western-based Maghreb and Algeria experts and produced a report
which was not only read with appreciation by the original US-based energy firm,
but also passed on by them to several energy companies with an interest in
Algeria and the Maghreb region.
Terrorism Financing, Saudi
Arabia
As the result of the
freezing of the overseas funds of some Saudi businessmen at U.S. Government
request after 9/11, BKI executives were requested by an influential overseas
law firm, which was handling one of these cases, to provide both regional
Middle East expertise and insight into how U.S. intelligences process
information on terrorism financing, in an effort to counter allegations that
this particular businessman was involved in funding of Al-Qaeda
operations. This activity involved
assessment point-by-point of the various allegations against the businessman
and crafting questions to be posed to both the businessman and his broader
entourage that could put some of the allegations in a broader historical
context. The information and the
perspective provided by BKI resulted in some of the allegations being dropped
and some of the businessman’s blocked funds being unfrozen, at least in Europe.
Market Entry, Egypt
BKI was requested by a New York-based
emerging markets fund to investigate plans by Spanish cement interests to take
over the interests of another Spanish firm in a cement production joint venture
in Egypt. The primary question was
whether the Egypt family that owned and controlled the cement production
operations was being truthful in its claims to the potential new Spanish
investors and whether the Egyptian family had dealt fairly with the previous
Spanish joint venture partner. BKI
was able to draw upon contacts in Egypt with long and detailed official
experience both with corruption issues and with investigations, which were at
present outside the government.
They were able to provide considerable derogatory information concerning
the machinations of the Egyptian family, which enabled the Spanish cement
interests, who remained convinced of the viability of the project, to drive a
much harder bargain, in terms of guarantees and financial arrangements, than
had been the case before our investigation.
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