Heinrich Polster
Partner, Forensic, Risk & Compliance
The need for a special forensic investigation to look into financial crime often arises very suddenly. Whether it is the result of a tip-off (from an anonymous source), a chance discovery, a search by investigating authorities or a regulatory requirement, clients find themselves having to deal with the immediate situation unexpectedly. Suspicions may relate to any number of crimes, including corruption, money laundering, financing terrorism, cartels, cyber-attacks, embezzlement – the list goes on.
The first step is to fully understand the accusation or initial suspicion. What exactly do the accusations relate to and who is implicated? What is the time frame under question? It is also essential to clarify right at the start who needs to be informed and/or involved. At the same time, it is important to work out whether there is anyone who shouldn't be told about the accusations. This may include the person under suspicion and/or other, unaffected employees.
Many organisations are not prepared to take immediate action, such as the steps discussed above as well as measures like securing affected offices/business documentation or blocking access to electronic systems, or to subsequently investigate the situation. The other problem is that they often lack the necessary skills and/or resources.
The elements of a special forensic investigation that are generally required in order to pass judgement on a situation are outlined below. It may be the case that not all of these elements are required and we do also offer individual elements as separate services to fill gaps in skills or resources within internal investigations, for instance.
Document and process auditing, interviews
The aim of document and process auditing is to gather information relevant to the case with a view to assessing the situation. Just building a picture of processes and responsibilities can make it possible to narrow down the target group of potential suspects and important information can be gleaned on relevant documentation. The content of documents related to the situation is analysed, whilst the physical documents are checked for any signs of tampering or manipulation. The type of documents can vary greatly, with examples including contracts, invoices, service reports, payment files, accounting records and meeting minutes.
Interviews with relevant witnesses often provide useful information at the questioning stage. The suspects are then usually interviewed at the end of the investigation when lots of information is already available, as this can be used to confront them at this point. Interviews are conducted by two experienced interviewers and documented.
