No stone left unturned

Reports of the various scandals in the news at the moment, from FIFA to the Keydata ‘death bonds’ saga, are the culmination of, in some cases, years of painstaking investigation into the financial dealings of the various bodies involved. All of these cases started with allegations, rumours and beliefs that something was wrong until enough evidence was amassed to bring a case to court.

In most cases this work would be undertaken by forensic accountants, whose job it is to pore over the evidence and piece together the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and, if necessary, prepare this for the courts and even give evidence before them.
 
For example, in what is being dubbed the ‘world cup of fraud’, FIFA, this week the U.S. Justice Department unsealed a 47-count indictment that detailed charges against 14 people accused of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. This was after a huge amount of evidence had been collected, sifted and analysed for evidence of wrongdoing.
 
In the case of Keydata, the founder of the insolvent investment firm, who was given a record-breaking £75m fine by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), they have refuted the evidence and have hit back with a £700m High Court claim against the FCA and the accountants they used. This will set in motion a whole new investigation, when more evidence will be put forward and old evidence will be re-examined.

Author: Roger Isaacs, 1 June 2015

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