Core Expertise

Investigations are conducted with forensic discipline and robust privilege safeguards, ensuring that factual reconstruction remains reliable in the face of potential regulatory or judicial scrutiny.

• Investigations into fraud, bribery, corruption and asset misappropriation
• Review of governance failures, conflicts of interest and managerial misconduct
• Assessment of disclosure failures and potential market abuse
• Investigations triggered by whistleblower allegations or internal audit findings
• Reconstruction of decision-making processes and accountability lines
• Coordination of forensic accounting, digital evidence and document review

Each mandate also includes an integrated assessment of legal exposure across multiple enforcement regimes.

• Analysis of criminal, administrative and civil liability
• Assessment of exposure under financial regulation and market conduct rules
• Evaluation of management liability and corporate attribution risk
• Strategic assessment of regulatory, prosecutorial and civil litigation risk
• Evaluation of reputational and organisational impact

Tax issues often emerge as part of broader internal investigations into financial misconduct, governance failures or suspected irregularities. We assist clients in examining potential tax exposure in parallel with criminal, regulatory, corporate and reputational risk, particularly where allegations involve under-declaration, artificial arrangements, improper deductions or the misuse of company structures.

Our work includes integrating tax-sensitive fact-finding into the wider investigation, assessing escalation risk and coordinating legal strategy where tax issues intersect with financial crime, insolvency, management liability or regulatory scrutiny.

For tax authority investigations and enforcement defence, see Tax Investigations & Tax Enforcement.

• Investigation of tax-related irregularities identified through whistleblower reports, audits or internal reviews
• Assessment of tax exposure alongside criminal, regulatory and corporate risk
• Coordination of strategy where tax issues intersect with fraud, money laundering, insolvency or governance concerns
• Structuring investigative steps to preserve privilege, evidentiary integrity and strategic control

Where investigations intersect with regulatory oversight, we assist clients in structuring engagement with supervisory authorities while preserving procedural safeguards.

• Strategy for regulatory interaction and supervisory inquiries
• Voluntary disclosure protocols and cooperation frameworks
• Representation in communications with regulators and enforcement bodies
• Management of parallel regulatory and criminal investigations

Investigations frequently lead to structural reforms designed to restore integrity and reduce future exposure.

• Implementation of post-investigation governance enhancements
• Review and redesign of compliance frameworks and internal controls
• Strengthening of whistleblowing and escalation mechanisms
• Independent monitoring of remediation measures
• Structured reporting to boards, regulators and key stakeholders

Where investigations evolve into enforcement or criminal proceedings, we represent corporations, boards and senior executives in complex white-collar matters. These mandates often require navigation of criminal, regulatory, governance and reputational exposure simultaneously, including in circumstances involving multiple authorities, jurisdictions and internal stakeholders. Our role is to help clients respond with legal precision while maintaining strategic coherence across the wider matter.

• Defence against allegations of embezzlement, bribery, corruption, fraud and misuse of EU funds
• Matters involving insider dealing, market manipulation and other capital markets offences
• Health and safety, public procurement and other business crime matters
• Matters involving money laundering, tax exposure and related financial offences
• Corporate criminal liability and attribution analysis
• Assessment of management liability and individual exposure
• Coordination of cross-border investigations and defence strategy
• Interaction with prosecutors, investigative authorities, regulators and supervisory bodies

We assist organisations facing inquiries initiated by supervisory authorities.

• Representation throughout supervisory investigations, regulatory inquiries and interactions with competent authorities
• Advice on legal professional privilege, document management and information handling obligations during investigations
• Coordination of strategy where multiple regulators or jurisdictions are involved

Regulatory scrutiny often emerges suddenly and may threaten the operational continuity of an organisation. We assist clients in managing the immediate procedural and strategic consequences of such events.

• Immediate response to dawn raids, inspections and regulatory searches
• Management of asset freezing measures and precautionary restrictions
• Strategic coordination of communications with regulators and key stakeholders
• Procedural strategy to contain and manage the scope of early-stage regulatory escalation
• Integration of regulatory defence with parallel criminal, civil or internal investigation exposure

Where regulatory inquiries develop into enforcement proceedings, we represent clients in administrative sanction procedures and related regulatory litigation.

• Defence in administrative sanction proceedings
• Challenges to regulatory findings and enforcement measures
• Defence in matters involving alleged breaches of disclosure, governance or conduct obligations
• Strategic coordination of defence across regulatory and judicial forums

We assist clients in matters involving tax investigations, enforcement measures and disputes arising from allegations of tax irregularities, under-declaration, fraudulent structuring or broader fiscal misconduct.

This work is particularly important where tax scrutiny develops in parallel with internal investigations, financial crime exposure, regulatory inquiries or management liability concerns - in such matters, tax risk must be examined together with criminal, administrative, corporate and reputational implications. Our team combines legal defence strategy with practical insight into tax investigation procedures and enforcement dynamics, drawing on direct experience within tax authority environments.

Where tax issues arise inside a broader internal investigation, see Tax-sensitive fact-finding within internal investigations.

• Assistance in tax investigations and tax authority inquiries
• Defence in matters involving alleged tax fraud, underpayment, artificial arrangements or improper deductions
• Assessment of parallel tax, criminal and regulatory exposure
• Coordination of defence where tax issues intersect with money laundering, insolvency, corporate governance or financial crime concerns

We review EU-funded projects when an audit observation, an allegation of irregularity, or due diligence ahead of an acquisition calls for an independent legal assessment. The point is to reconstruct how the project was designed, approved, procured, implemented and reported, then test that record against what the funding contract actually required.

• Review of the funding application, financing agreement, eligibility conditions and project file
• Reconstruction of the implementation timeline, reporting flow and key decisions
• Checking whether outputs, milestones and expenditure match funding-contract obligations
• Identifying documentary gaps and control weaknesses that create financial or legal exposure
• Bringing in technical, financial or forensic specialists where the analysis is not purely legal

We advise on public procurement under Romanian and EU law, including Laws 98/2016, 99/2016 and 100/2016, and the remedies framework under Law 101/2016, where a procurement decision may face audit, control or criminal scrutiny. We look beyond the formal procedure to the actual sequence of decisions and the contents of the procurement file, because that is what drives eligibility and financial-correction risk.

• Review of procurement planning, tender documents, award decisions and contract-performance records
• Eligibility, transparency, equal-treatment and conflict-of-interest analysis
• Contract amendments, additional works, technical specifications and supplier-selection concerns
• Assessing and quantifying financial-correction exposure under OUG 66/2011 and the EU rules
• Cases where procurement overlaps with bribery, misuse of funds or management liability

We help clients assess and respond to financial corrections, audit findings and control conclusions that can reduce funding, trigger repayment, or run in parallel with an investigation.

We test how each finding was reasoned and substantiated, and whether it is genuinely connected to the irregularity alleged.

• Assessment of audit findings, irregularity notes and financial-correction decisions
• Review of the documents and correspondence relevant to the contested finding
• Drafting the legal and strategic response to the finding
• Coordinating the defence where a correction may also carry civil, criminal or reputational consequences

We support clients in their dealings with managing authorities, intermediate bodies and the Audit Authority that supervise and control EU-funded projects. How a client answers a request for information shapes the evidentiary record, so each submission is prepared with the later stages - escalation, enforcement, litigation - already in mind.

• Responding to requests for information, clarifications and control measures
• Submissions addressing eligibility, procurement, implementation and funding-contract issues
• Assessing the risk that an observation escalates into a formal irregularity or enforcement
• Coordinating legal, financial and technical input into a single, consistent position

We examine suspected implementation irregularities and breaches of the funding contract - the cases that cannot be resolved by reading the file alone. These usually require reconstructing the project's decisions, deliverables, supplier interactions and the practical reasons implementation departed from the plan.

• Compliance with funding-contract obligations, milestones and reporting requirements
• Deviations from approved budgets, timelines, deliverables or procurement assumptions
• Eligibility, sustainability and asset-use concerns
• Governance and documentation weaknesses that undermine the project's defensibility
• Remediation and corrective action once a problem is identified

We advise where an EU-funded project or procurement decision creates criminal-law exposure, including matters that may reach the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) - competent for offences against the EU's financial interests - or Romanian prosecutors. Early on, the priority is to assess the risk, preserve privilege and the integrity of the evidence, and coordinate the administrative and criminal responses so they do not undercut each other.

• Exposure involving misuse of EU funds, fraud, bribery, false statements or document irregularities
• Review of facts and documents that may become relevant to EPPO or national prosecutors
• Internal-investigation strategy where an administrative finding overlaps with criminal risk
• Advice to companies, boards, executives and project promoters on personal and corporate exposure
• Managing parallel administrative, civil, regulatory and criminal proceedings

We advise issuers, asset managers and institutional market participants on the regulatory obligations governing their activities.

• Continuous disclosure obligations applicable to listed entities
• Management of insider information and market abuse compliance
• Regulatory aspects of corporate events affecting listed entities
• Regulatory aspects of investment funds and AIFMs
• Strategic guidance during supervisory review, inspection or regulatory investigation

We advise banks and other financial institutions on the regulatory obligations and supervisory requirements applicable to their activities.

• Regulatory framework applicable to banks and financial institutions
• Governance and conduct obligations in regulated financial sectors
• Advice on regulatory licensing, approvals and supervisory engagement
• Financing, lending and leasing activities

We advise institutions on structuring governance and compliance systems capable of operating effectively within complex supervisory environments.

• Design and review of regulatory compliance frameworks for financial institutions
• Assessment of regulatory exposure across capital markets and financial services activities
• Interaction strategy with financial regulators and supervisory authorities
• Advice on regulatory implications of corporate restructurings, governance changes and strategic transactions

We advise boards and senior management on the design and calibration of governance systems capable of operating effectively in high-exposure environments.

• Fiduciary duties of directors and executive liability
• Governance frameworks for listed companies and regulated institutions
• Board composition, independence and succession planning
• Internal reporting systems and escalation mechanisms
• Governance implications of regulatory obligations and supervisory expectations

We advise clients on the legal and strategic implications of ownership structures, governance rights and shareholder relationships.

• Negotiation and structuring of governance rights within statutory frameworks
• Conflicts between investors, founders and boards
• Governance implications of changes in ownership or capital structure
• Strategic management of investor relations in contested environments

Where shareholder relationships deteriorate into formal disputes, we represent clients in matters involving control, governance and corporate decision-making.

• Disputes concerning voting rights, board composition, decision-making authority and related governance rights
• Litigation involving governance breaches or fiduciary duty claims
• Conflicts arising from changes in capital structure, ownership or control
• Strategic resolution of governance conflicts within regulated environments