Corporate Investigations
When something is wrong inside a company, the loss is rarely the real problem. The real problem is the question of who can still be trusted — and that paralyses a management team faster than any drop in revenue. A corporate investigation exists to do one thing: establish the facts cleanly enough that you can act again.
Typical triggers
- Suspected kickbacks or self-dealing in procurement and tendering
- Leakage of customer data, pricing models or technical documentation
- Breach of non-compete obligations by former employees
- False invoicing, phantom bookings, bogus subcontracting
- Unexplained shrinkage in warehousing and logistics
Why internal enquiries usually fail
Anyone investigating internally is investigating colleagues. Information leaks, subjects prepare themselves, evidence disappears. There is also an employment-law risk: a dismissal based on improperly obtained findings rarely survives the German labour court. An external investigator has neither loyalties inside the business nor an interest in the outcome.
How it proceeds
We first work through the facts and the potential loss with you. From that emerges a strategy matched to the objective: some cases call for surveillance, others for OSINT research alone, others again for a test purchase. A combination is frequently the most effective.
You receive interim updates, not a black box. The final report sets out a chronology, the evidence and a sober assessment of what is proven — and what merely appears likely.
The polygraph in a corporate context
Where the circle of people is narrow, a polygraph examination can be decisive. In Germany it is admissible on a strictly voluntary basis — no one may be pressured into taking part. In practice it more often exonerates: people with nothing to hide usually want the test themselves.
Discretion towards staff
An investigation half the company knows about is no longer an investigation. We agree with you who is informed — normally a very small circle — and how our presence is explained if it is needed at all.
Where a corporate investigation begins
Almost always with a number that does not add up. A contract goes to a competitor although your offer was better. A supplier becomes more expensive while the service stays the same. An internal calculation surfaces on the other side of the table. Individually, each of these has an explanation. Together they form a pattern.
The first step is to separate, with you, what you actually know from what you suspect. The distinction is uncomfortable but it determines everything that follows. Investigations built on an unexamined assumption regularly run in the wrong direction — and do more damage inside the company than the original suspicion.
Working without disrupting the business
The most important part stays invisible. Until the evidence holds, nobody in the company knows an investigation is under way — including management below the level of the client. We work with records you already hold, with publicly accessible registers and, where necessary and lawful, with surveillance outside company premises.
We will also tell you where the line runs. Reading private messages, fitting tracking devices to other people’s vehicles and accessing third-party accounts are criminal offences — and they make the results worthless at the same time. Anyone offering you that is selling you a risk, not a result.
What becomes possible afterwards
What you end up with is documentation usable in both employment and civil proceedings: what was established, when, supported by what, and by whom. With it you can dismiss, claim damages, or — often the wiser course — negotiate a separation without making the matter public.
Where a defined group of people is involved and everyone consents, a polygraph examination can shorten the process considerably. Where the issue is shrinkage in stock or at the till, employee theft is the better entry point. Before filling a sensitive position, a background check is advisable.
What usually brings clients to us
Most often: bids that are repeatedly undercut by a narrow margin although the calculation stays internal. Second, purchasing patterns where one supplier is favoured for years without price or quality explaining it. Third, the departure of an employee after which customers follow, or a competitor appears with strikingly familiar terms.
Less frequent but more expensive: fictitious invoices and services billed but never delivered. These usually surface when someone new takes over the accounts — sometimes years later.
What determines the scope
It depends on how many transactions have to be examined, whether foreign registers are involved, whether surveillance is added, and what form of documentation you need — an internal basis for a decision, or an exhibit for proceedings.
We deliberately keep the initial brief narrow and widen it only when interim findings justify it. You receive the price before the assignment begins.
Frequently asked questions
Must the works council be involved?
For measures affecting the workforce generally, yes. For a suspicion-based investigation into a specific individual, different standards apply. We clarify this in advance with your legal counsel.
Are the findings usable in employment proceedings?
Yes, where lawfully obtained. Our documentation is built for exactly that.
What does a corporate investigation cost?
It depends on scope. After the initial consultation you receive a proposal with a defined framework. Price on request.