Political risk advisory

Political change and analysis

Corporate Due Diligence and Investigation (CDDI) goes beyond typical consultancy services in that we closely monitor political development in CEE that could affect your business. Key to our activities is continued access to legal expertise not only in the CEE but in the CIS countries, which paradoxically offers unique flexibility and a realistic approach to your specific scenarios or situations.

Our team has more than 25-years' experience in political analysis, and has a stellar record with regard to predicting elections and the law. Services include the following:

  • Parliamentary bill monitoring and analysis
  • Geo-political and trend analysis
  • Sector analysis in context of political and legal changes
  • Media monitoring and update services
  • Market forecasting
  • Geo-political risk mitigation
  • Political network building

Morever, CDDI CEO Preston Smith has successfully (and publicly called) each Polish national parliamentary and presidential election since the departure of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), and has been tapped for investigative, political and business commentary by a variety of media and publications, including the BBC, Rzeczpospolita, Transitions International, Wprost, TVN, TVN24, Polsat, Polsat News, Superstacja, Rzeczpospolita, Interfax, Interfax Central Europe, The Bulletin and others.

Of note is the fact that he has a long record of accurate predictions, including, for example, repeatedly in the public sphere that real estate prices were overheated (prior to the mortgage crisis), the first Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis, and he successfully predicted the destabilization of Ukraine/Russian intervention following Majdan protests.

At Corporate Due Diligence and Investigation we monitor political and legal developments even in their early stages. Key to our activities is continued access to legal expertise not only in the CEE but in the CIS countries, which paradoxically offers unique flexibility and a realistic approach to your specific scenarios or situations.

Our team has more than 25-years' experience in political analysis, and has a stellar record with regard to predicting elections and the law. This is highly important in jurisdictions that are currently dealing with changes to banking law, retail law, surveillance law (both electronic and physical), laws governing energy and wind farms, employment law, tax law and new regulations that may dictate suppliers and agriculture produce. 

Services include the following:

  • Parliamentary bill monitoring and analysis
  • Geo-political and trend analysis
  • Sector analysis in context of political and legal changes
  • Media monitoring and update services
  • Market forecasting
  • Geo-political risk mitigation
  • Political network building

PEP risk in the context of FCPA

Companies have consistently been burned in the CEE and CIS countries simply because in the early stages investors did not understand risks or with whom they were dealing. Enter the Politically Exposed Person (PEP). Such persons not only damage company morale, make a mockery of standards, but they can now create massive collateral damage in the form of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or British Anti-Bribery fines--or simply in the form of fines and/or criminal prosecution in jurisdictions that are now mirroring FCPA rules in order to generate cash for weakened state budgets.

Add to the mix a new industry geared to prompt whistle-blowing and pre-emptive exercises to identify PEPs are critical.

At CDDI we not only will aid you in this process, but additionally use advanced HUMINT and OSINT techniques to map out relationships or mechanisms that a PEP is using or has used at a critical point in time.

Please call for a consultation.

National and regional risk advisory

Corporate Due Diligence and Investigation (CDDI) is the go-to risk intelligence and corporate detective agency focused on Central Europe and the CIS countries. With key consulting professionals, investigators and detectives throughout the region, CDDI is not only positioned, but it has the experience and reach to offer a wide range of litigation support and investigative needs, ranging from crisis litigation research to pre-transaction due diligence to more specified services such as surveillance, asset trace work, site security audits and investigations and sting operations.

In addition, through the founder's more than 25 years of experience in the region, a wide range of PR services (ranging from crisis consultation to editing, design, media campaign review and graphic support) can and has been applied in cases ranging from real estate funds and hedge funds to private equity funds and major manufacturers.

Our strategy

As not only a risk consultancy, but a licensed detective agency, CDDI goes beyond typical consultancy services in that needs ranging from pre-transaction to litigation support to asset searches can be and are conducted thoroughly and within the confines of the law. This not only guarantees court admissibility, but it also ensures that your firm does not fall prey to the trappings of Foreign Corrupt Practice Act or British Anti-Bribery infractions, as could be the case when using typical consultancies, which are often unlicensed even in their own respective countries--and which rely on subcontractors that they conveniently do not control. Key to our activities is continued access to legal expertise not only in the CEE but in the CIS countries, which paradoxically offers unique flexibility and a realistic approach to your specific scenarios or situations.

Regional - and global - presence

The CDDI network is not simply a network, but family. This extends throughout the region, but goes further to enable on-demand approaches beyond the CEE and CIS region to that of the Middle East and Africa. That said, each client and each potential client' whether these located in a CEE core country or in a less (or more) regulated location' is treated on a case-by-case basis in order to ensure that we will in fact not only deliver, but over deliver. This commitment to full and discreet service is what we believe separates us from our competitors on any given mandate.