Government Asset Recovery Case Study

Issue:

A newly elected Government required the review and analysis of potential evidence hosted on multiple mobile phones.

Resolution:

Our certified forensic analysts acquired the mobile data, including call logs, emails, instant messages, and third party application content from the mobiles. They disabled the devices’ location tracking, and took other precautionary measures to ensure that no one could track or surveil the phones. The team extracted the data while safeguarding the integrity of the data and metadata, and hosted it in Relativity, where the investigators analysed the data using a variety of data analytics technology. Using proprietary tools, we converted the structured data captured from texting apps to maintain the chronological order and context of instant messages, as well as connections between conversations.
We were instructed to review the data and provide preliminary findings on whether there is evidence which indicated that fraud, bribery, corruption or money laundering may have taken place and whether any individuals, in their personal capacity or in their capacity as public official, may have personally or financially benefited from fraud, bribery, corruption or money laundering.

Value Added:

A report was produced on the communications obtained and analysed that concluded that the data had all the hallmarks of criminals colluding to launder money from illicit proceeds and sanctioned countries. We reported against the primary objectives of the FATF Report on Money Laundering through the Physical Transportation of Cash dated October 2015 (a leading publication that outlines the factors in laundering money by physically transporting cash across borders). The newly elected Government were able to use the information to determine what additional steps it would take with regard to the transactions.