Due diligence is used to helped prevent problems at a later date
In the last year, Page Group’s Middle East office has conducted an increasing number of due diligence checks on high net worth individuals applying for investor visas in a variety of countries.
A number of countries, including the UK, offer citizenship as a way of encouraging wealthy individuals/business men and women to invest in their economies. This is particularly attractive to individuals from emerging markets/high risk countries whose passports make it difficult for them to travel. Unsurprisingly, following the Arab Spring and on-going conflict and unrest in the Middle East, a number of the applicants are from countries such as Egypt, Libya, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Page Group is employed to conduct due diligence on these individuals to verify their credentials and background and ensure none are former members of a discredited regime or have any adverse links to criminal or terrorist groups. The countries involved take third party due diligence very seriously in order to protect the integrity of their citizenship investment programmes. The countries do not want these programmes to be used as a back door for any “unsavoury” people.
As in all types of cases, due diligence is used to helped prevent problems at a later date and in this case protect a country’s reputation.
Loading...