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Technology Stocks : Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCW, PCWKF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ms.smartest.person who wrote (735)	3/19/2000 11:48:00 PM
From: ms.smartest.person	Respond to of 4541

O.T./ Will the HK bankers use Control Risk Group to do DD on PCCW? Fraud buster that the Sultan of Brunei turned to Control Risks Group called in to track Prince Jefri's massive spending By Conrad Raj WHEN the Sultan of Brunei wanted to find out where and how his brother Prince Jefri had allegedly squandered over US$16 billion (S$27.4 billion) of his tiny kingdom's fabulous wealth, he called the Control Risks Group, a London-based consultancy which investigates global fraud, conducts due diligence and helps trace missing assets. Mr Horner: due diligence work is up as people are investing in the region again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A full-time team of half a dozen, aided by scores of other consultants throughout the world, helped the Borneo kingdom trace hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets in the US, Britain and Asia. "It was our biggest single job and we spent over 12 months on the job helping out Tom Waring, an independent lawyer and a former UK deputy public prosecutor who had been hired by Brunei to find out what had happened to the assets," disclosed Mike Horner who heads the firm's Singapore office. Among the assets found were aircraft, antiques and fleets of expensive cars that would have made many car dealers feel inadequately stocked, and choice real estate the world over, including Hongkong and the Philippines. Last month, the Brunei government announced that it had started legal proceedings against Prince Jefri, a former finance minister, freezing his assets and accusing him of improper use of state funds through the country's largest private company, Amedeo Development Corp. Seventy-one others, including Prince Jefri's son, were subsequently charged in the same case. These days, Control Risks' jobs are somewhat more mundane but equally important. It is still doing asset tracing work but not on the scale of Amedeo. But most of the work now involves doing due diligence on companies, some litigation-related work and the tracing of assets of companies and individuals who refuse or are reluctant to repay their creditors. "We are starting to see a lot more interest and investment in the region . . . People are looking to invest again in the region. That's bringing us more due diligence work," Mr Horner said. In fact business has increased so much that it is recruiting at least another three or four consultants to add to its present staff strength of about half a dozen at its Singapore office. Due diligence, which currently accounts for half the firm's work, is expected to increase to 75 per cent over the next two, three years as more people invest in the region in the wake of its economic recovery. Control Risks' clients include Singapore companies, especially government-linked entities. "So this is very much going to be a growth area over the next five years. We are seeing quite a bit of interest in North Asia, certainly China, plus India in the West," said Mr Horner, who was once one of Hongkong's top crime fighters. Not only is the firm being asked to do due diligence on companies that are the target of acquisitions and partnerships but increasingly, firms are now checking on their suppliers and their purchasers to ensure their creditworthiness and viability. This is a result of lessons learnt during the recent economic crisis when many multinationals found their suppliers and purchasers in the region suddenly going bankrupt. "We need to know who their shareholders are and ask them for audited statements of their accounts going back to two or three years to see if they are a viable business. It is quite encouraging to see MNCs doing that, not just for new suppliers but for existing ones as well, to make sure they are following best practices. The reason they want to do that is so that they understand, right from the start, exactly who they are dealing with," Mr Horner noted. The firm, which started business some two decades ago negotiating on behalf of companies whose employees had been kidnapped by terrorists in South America, now has offices in more than 15 countries, including Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan. business-times.asia1.com.sg