Case studies

Tracing assets in Lebanon for a large global bank

Written by Diligencia | Jan 12, 2021 12:00:00 AM

The challenge:

Working on behalf of a large global bank with a significant presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Diligencia was asked to identify an account holder’s connections to and assets in Lebanon, as part of the bank’s efforts to recover monies owed.

 

The solution:

We undertook extensive and in-depth research on the principals and their businesses in Lebanon, looking at multiple sources including the company registry and regulator (Ministry of Justice), the land registry, local courts as well as range of sources including clients, suppliers and associates of the principals across the region.

 

The result:

We were able to discover that the principals (and their family members) had a long track record of bad debts, contractual disputes as well as outstanding arrest warrants in the UAE. We mapped out the corporate interests of the entire family in Lebanon as there was evidence that assets had been transferred to family relations, and then identified properties relating to those companies and related individuals. We were also able to establish that one of the principal’s main trading businesses was in the processing of auctioning off its physical assets at the time our research was being conducted.