The corporate investigations industry is by its very nature a secretive business, but it has recently and reluctantly come out of the shadows.

…The new revelations from private security firms C2I and Inkerman are yet more unwelcome attention on an industry which now wants to appear both professional and bland...

 ...Last December it was reported that K2 had hired a documentary film producer to pose as an anti-asbestos activist to infiltrate the movement…K2 has argued that it has merely passed information to its client, which wanted to understand the anti-asbestos campaign.

 …Hakluyt, was also caught out using exactly the same technique as K2, infiltration… Greenpeace was a key target because they were looking to expand their campaign against BP’s drilling in the North Atlantic and targeting Shell in Nigeria.

 …Control Risks was cited in the investigation of Nigerian activist Dotun Oloko who had blown the whistle on a private equity company partially funded by the UK’s Department of International Development (Dfid). The department then sent the information to the company. It then chose to employ Control Risks to investigate Oloko, rather than the alleged wrongdoing in their own company...

[Other companies referred: Kroll, Diligence, BP’s drilling, Shell, UK’s Department of International Development]