iSanctuary Foundation

Our client, an international charitable civil society organisation, commissioned iSanctuary to undertake a specific brief to research, investigate and provide evidence to support a private prosecution or private legal action against a corrupt actor from a country in the former Soviet Union who used the UK and other countries to launder the proceeds of their crime(s). <br /><br /> Working with civil society partners and counsel we undertook a comprehensive intelligence-gathering exercise to identify a potential subject for investigation, and identify real estate acquired possibly with criminal proceeds. <br /><br /> Having identified a potential subject, we initiated an investigation to gather evidence to support a prosecution, i.e. to support the assertion that the property in the UK they had acquired represented the proceeds of corruption. Our investigation included a review of significant volumes of documents and electronic media using in-house and proprietary document management systems. <br /><br /> Several European state actors were identified as having links to the suspected criminality arising from a series of corrupt business transactions connected to infrastructure projects. We assembled a compelling prime facie case for action, and we are currently awaiting a decision on the next steps.

Our client, a UK human rights charitable organisation, was seeking to make a case to present to the UK Government (HM Treasury) for the imposition of sanctions against members of the former regime under José Eduardo dos Santos of Angola. <br /> <br /> iSanctuary was instructed to undertake a financial investigation to establish whether specific individuals had real estate in the UK which, if confirmed, would strengthen the case for the imposition of sanctions by the UK against the individuals in question. <br /> <br /> We undertook extensive research in relation to the persons against whom the sanctions were being sought, utilising financial investigation skills to analyse corporate relationships and open-source intelligence (OSINT) research, including mapping and geo-location analysis to identify potential properties being used/owned by the subjects of the investigation. <br /> <br /> We identified several high-value London properties linked to one of the subjects; the information we gathered enabled the client to present a compelling case to HM Treasury for consideration.