Silas Nyamweya had a candid discussion with Mr. Leonard Orlando, a private investigator on various aspects related to his line of duty. This is how the conversation went…
Mr.
Kenyans need to conduct investigation when doing businesses, recruiting employees and when buying property. They also seek for private investigation when they want to enter in any form of relationship or partnership.
As professional investigators we specialize in unearthing internal fraud and theft. We also conduct background checks and due diligence investigation.
True. However, a Private Investigator cannot enter a property, house, or a building through illegal means, including breaking and entering. You have to obtain permission from an individual (owner) and a government authority to access the property.
PRIVATE SECURITY REGULATION ACT 2016. Section 46. Subsection (1) states that “In exercise of the citizens right to arrest, a private security service provider, a security guard or a security officer may arrest a person who commits an offence within the premises in which that provider, guard or officer is responsible for and immediately hand over the person to the nearest police station or post”.
No because we are professional enough and we are lucky that we have never been caught during our investigative work.
There is no easy case in this industry; we get very tough cases every time. But we always crack them, whatever time it takes.
You must have had hilarious and memorable encounters in your line of work. Mention three…
At one point when I was conducting an investigation a client forwarded a list of people to be investigated and one of them was my relative.
Some people (clients) may recommend unethical practices that would put an individual in danger, like obtaining information for non-investigative purposes, or using unscrupulous methods. One example would be locating an individual and providing that person’s information to a stalker or person who might put that person’s safety at risk. We also get doctored reports.
We have clients across the social fabric. Not just rich people. But our major clients are corporate and business owners.
A majority of women, in most cases, want us to provide services for them about their partners. Men too wants their wives or girlfriends investigated, but a good number of men seek for services like back ground on employees or due diligence on other business related issues.
In the world of investigation when you get an assignment and conduct it to clients full satisfaction, that is what we call being happy.
We have travelled to many countries among them Dubai, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong among others.
Most of our investigators are highly trained from police, intelligence service and have also acquired relevant qualification from recognized Universities.
In Private Investigation you have to work hand in hand with government authorities. The Police, for instance sometimes provide us with helpful information and we also share with them in some very extreme cases.
Most politicians seat in corporate boards and the majority are lawyers. They also run businesses where they contact us for investigations.
Every job has its fair share of challenges. However, just because a particular assignment was not successful as you wanted it to be, it’s good to give your mind enough time to relax before you embark on it again.
Our charges are based on the client requirements, terms of reference, the evidence they are looking up to get and the location of the case under investigation.
Majority of Kenyans have a notion of getting rich fast and they also end up engaging themselves in unlawful activities like fraud. They also do not trust each other.
There is lack of a centralized government information Centre. Investigation also requires a lot patient; it can take days, weeks or even months before finishing an assignment and you have to update your clients all the time. Again due to rights to privacy, sometimes a small assignment can take longer to investigate.
It’s a duty of a client to visit the offices of a company that is doing investigations since most private investigators in Kenya are briefcase operators and they end up spending their clients’ money without delivery.
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