Exposing corruption and money laundering: iSanctuary's investigation of a former Soviet Union actor's illicit activities.

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). 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. 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. 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.