Due Diligence


Middle Eastern economies often lack coherent and accessible government and corporate information. Risks such as political instability, money laundering, IP infringements and corruption can be mitigated by accurate and credible due diligence. Our offering allows businesses to confidently pursue such opportunities, while adhering to their own compliance, ethical and safety imperatives.

Our competitive edge lies in our unrivalled access to primary source material from governments, businesses and media organizations. Such material is corroborated with in-depth and methodical open source research and augmented with a sophisticated forward-looking analytical capability.

From its base in Hong Kong and in-country networks, our team performs synthesized due diligence in Arabic, English, Persian and Mandarin. This multilingual capacity is performed entirely in-house with full transparency of sourcing.

Capabilities
  • Fraud and corruption investigations
  • Money laundering
  • Conflicts of interest
  • Political and security risk assessments
  • Misappropriation of resources
  • Reputational risk, derogatory findings
Methodology

Before commencing a project, we engage clients in comprehensive assessments of commercial and compliance requirements, in addition to risk appetite. Hence, whether a client is entering a new market, engaging a new supplier or customer, or auditing existing practices, our team will deliver an actionable, reliable and accurate evaluation of the risks involved. Throughout projects, clients benefit from ongoing communication with our team, to ensure requirements are updated and relevant after an initial collection of intelligence.

Initial project management phase

  • Determining the scale and risk of the investigation
  • Securing key on-the-ground personnel and resources
  • Acquiring appropriate documents and notices
  • Initial intelligence collection and client consultation to update requirements, if needed.

Research on target people and companies

Comprehensive checks would typically include the following:

  • Corporate registry verification
  • Litigation, bankruptcy, credit and regulatory checks
  • Reputational and derogatory findings
  • Media and social media insights
  • Watch list and sanctions checks
  • Site visits

Review of all procured materials, including from local agents

  • Review of key financial documents
  • Reviewing and collaborating online research with materials acquired through local sources
  • Conducting interviews with targets as appropriate