Fraud investigations 

Corporate fraud refers to illegal or deceptive activities undertaken by individuals or companies to provide an unjust financial advantage to themselves or their organization. These activities often involve misstating financial records, misappropriating assets, or deceiving investors, regulatory bodies, and the public.

Corporate fraud represents one of the most complex investigative challenges organizations face. Perpetrators often hold positions of trust, understand internal controls, and have months or years to conceal their activities.

Our fraud investigators specialize in unraveling these complex schemes while protecting your organization's legal position and reputation.

Financial statement fraud is the intentional manipulation of financial records to misrepresent a company’s economic performance and deceive stakeholders like investors, regulators, creditors, auditors, etc.

Investigating these matters requires deep expertise in accounting, financial reporting, and forensic analysis — combined with the ability to process large volumes of data and identify transactions that are atypical, inconsistent, or artificially constructed.

Our specialists help organisations identify the signs of financial statement manipulation, establish a clear and accurate account of what occurred, and determine the measures needed to strengthen controls, reduce risk, and prevent similar violations from occurring in the future.

Asset misappropriation schemes are types of occupational fraud where insiders (employees or executives) use their access to steal or misuse an organization's resources. It is the most common and frequent form of workplace fraud, categorized by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners into two primary domains: cash and non-cash assets.

We help detect and investigate the full spectrum of asset misappropriation—cash withdrawals, sales from fictitious sellers, false refunds, theft of inventory, and conflicts of interest—through transaction testing, relationship analysis, and structured interviews.

Executive misconduct is the intentional abuse of corporate authority, resources, or information by senior leadership to bypass internal controls. As forensic specialists, we define it not just as ethical failure, but as a calculated exploitation of privilege to commit financial fraud, manipulate markets, or unlawfully divert assets.

When fraud allegations involve executives, board members, or senior management, investigations require exceptional discretion, sophisticated forensic techniques, and investigators experienced in navigating complex corporate governance issues. Such cases demand a careful balance between establishing the facts, protecting sensitive information, and minimising disruption to the business.

Our specialists help establish a clear account of events, identify the mechanisms through which authority was abused, and determine the measures needed to strengthen controls, improve corporate governance frameworks, and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

A Conflict of Interest (COI) occurs when an employee uses their professional position to influence a business decision for personal gain, failing to disclose that their personal interests clash with their duty to the employer or partner.

Unlike bribery, the illicit benefit is usually derived directly by the perpetrator, rather than accepted from an external, dishonest third party.In forensic accounting, a conflict of interest is defined fundamentally as a breach of fiduciary duty where an individual has an undisclosed, secondary personal or financial interest that compromises, or has the potential to compromise, their objectivity in their professional duties.

We help organizations identify undisclosed relationships between employees and vendors, including hidden ownership interests, family connections, and potential prior business relationships.

Bribery and corruption represent the abuse of entrusted power for illicit private gain. In a forensic context, corruption is the overarching framework (such as extortion or conflicts of interest), while bribery is the specific mechanism — the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of an undue advantage to improperly influence an official's actions.

We help investigate third-party risks, facilitation payments, gifts & hospitality violations, and tender/contract manipulations end-to-end. Our remediation recommendations align with ISO 37001 anti-bribery management system standards — increasingly expected by international investors and partners.

Procurement fraud encompasses any intentional deception, misrepresentation, or manipulation at any stage of the procurement process — aimed at unlawfully securing a contract, inflating its value, eliminating competition, or diverting funds. The most common schemes include:

• Bid rigging and collusion: where participants secretly coordinate the outcome of a tender — including simultaneously inflating prices, taking turns winning contracts, or agreeing on a predetermined winner in advance.
• Kickbacks and bribery: where a supplier or contractor provides unlawful benefits to a responsible person in exchange for winning a procurement, obtaining favourable contract terms, or avoiding proper oversight.
• False or inflated invoicing: where the client is billed for goods or services that were never delivered, were only partially delivered, were of substandard quality, or are being charged for more than once.
• Change order abuse: where a participant deliberately submits an artificially low bid to secure the contract, then systematically inflates the final cost through unjustified amendments, fabricated "urgent" works, or additional scope.

We help clients identify and investigate procurement violations — from analysing tender documentation, participation conditions, and connections between parties, to verifying payments, contract amendments, and actual contract performance. Our approach enables the timely establishment of facts, collection of robust evidence, assessment of business or project risk, and the preparation of practical recommendations for further action, protection of funding, and strengthening of controls.

State-owned enterprise (SOE) manage massive public funds but are highly susceptible to "patronage" (favoritism in hiring or awarding contracts) and political pressure. Because they bridge the gap between government policy and commercial business, they often have convoluted supply chains, making them a high-risk vehicle for money laundering.

We have experience investigating fraud and corruption involving state-owned enterprises — whether as counterparties, investment targets, or subjects of internal investigation following management changes or supervisory board concerns.