Investigating fraud and corruption in Bangladesh

In this second installment in our series on fraud examinations around the world, an anonymous complaint from an employee sparked an in-depth investigation into allegations of corruption in the bidding process for a large-scale infrastructure project in Bangladesh. The author recounts the intricacies of the case and provides invaluable insight into conducting fraud examinations in this developing country.

Like so many fraud examinations, the subject of this case study began with an anonymous tip. The consulting firm that I was working for received an urgent request from the compliance team of a multinational financial institution known for its robust compliance framework. The financial institution was financing an infrastructure initiative in Bangladesh. An anonymous complaint had alerted the multinational company to anomalies in the bids received in response to a tender offer issued for the project.