Swedish investigative journalist Sven Wettergrund built a specialist due diligence business around i2 Analyst’s Notebook and iBase. In this article, we find out how Sven turns dispersed public data into clear visual intelligence, to help organisations make good decisions on hiring and acquisitions – and investigate financial irregularities.
When Sven Wettergrund formed his own private security company in Sweden in 2011, i2 Analyst’s Notebook and i2 iBase became central to his investigative work with clients.
Sven’s professional roots were in financial journalism. He reported for Dagens Industri (which he compares to the UK’s Financial Times) and then for an internet-based financial newspaper, Realtid. “At that time, I investigated and wrote a lot about economic crimes, so that was my special work almost every day,” he says. Through his experience with economic crime reporting, Sven spotted an opportunity in the market.
Granska Norden AB is a private security company based in Nyköping, about 100km southwest of Stockholm. Its special focus is on strategic information gathering and advanced analysis methods in various types of investigations. In simple terms, background checks. ‘All our security work is about making it easier for you as a customer to predict the unexpected and avoid choosing the wrong business partner’, says the firm’s website. This could be a new employee or even the acquisition of a new company.
Most of Sven’s assignments are checks for clients hiring staff, often for sensitive or senior roles in private companies, investment firms, and sometimes government-related organisations.
A typical assignment involves building a detailed, multi-source picture of an individual. Those open sources include public records and legal cases, enforcement authority data on debts, and social media.
And the critical tool Sven uses for 90% of his work is i2 Analyst’s Notebook. For background checks on individuals, Analyst’s Notebook allows him to turn fragmented information into a clear visual narrative for clients, especially busy executives and boards who need to understand risk quickly.
“I couldn't work without it,” he says. “Because my clients, they don’t have the time. With Analyst’s Notebook, they can read my report in two minutes and understand the point.”
Sven’s i2 charts show links between people, organisations, legal matters, debts and social media footprints. For clients, these visuals provide crucial insights when they are considering hiring someone into a sensitive role or appointing someone to a board. “It is about collecting, processing and sharing information with clients in a reliable and objective way in easy-to-read reports,” says Sven. “You’re helping organisations make well-informed decisions about hiring new people.”
With i2 Analyst’s Notebook and those investigative skills sharpened in journalism, Sven is using a broad network of open sources. This includes checking court and enforcement records in Sweden. “It can be important to find out if there is information in the public domain about whether someone has been in court,” he says. “If I find cases, I may then do some research to understand why the crime or crimes were committed.”
Sven says his role is not to automatically disqualify people with imperfect histories, but rather to give clients an informed view.
“Sometimes, with minor offences for example, it's not that important,” he says. “It's up to me to inform my customers what's important. What give them warning signs, for example.”
Sven’s work is not limited to hiring checks. He also supports investment and credit companies as part of their due diligence when they buy companies or stakes in them.
In these cases, he focuses again on the people behind the target acquisition, such as Board members and key staff. Even in corporate transactions involving large sums, Sven’s central object of investigation remains human: who is involved, what they have done and how that might affect the buyer’s risk.
“In this case, I'm also going through scanning all the board members of the company that is going to be bought,” he says. “I'm also looking at the company and other companies they are working with. It is all part of the due diligence.”
Again, the collection of facts and information is mainly done through open sources. Investigations are conducted under strict confidentiality, impartially and in compliance with privacy and GDPR laws, says Sven.
“There are many examples of how choosing the wrong business partner can lead to problems, in public procurement and in the private sector,” says Sven.
One example was the investigation by Granska into a construction company on behalf of a larger business. On the table was a lucrative contract for a large number of residential buildings and the company was a selected candidate. Granska was duly assigned by the client to conduct background checks. What did they find?
With the help of a parent company, which was responsible for property management within the group, it had been possible for the construction firm to hide undeclared salaries, arrange loans in the corporate sphere and, not least, the fact that the parent company's financial manager, a middle-aged man under a false name, was wanted by the Swedish Economic Crime Agency for serious tax fraud. He was also suspected of murder in Spain.
In less than a week, with the help of Analyst’s Notebook, Granska was able to demonstrate in a report that the construction company was likely on the verge of collapse due to its internal irregularities.
“Understanding the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of a company is a critical component of doing business with them,” says Sven. “You should also have an idea about the backgrounds of their sub-contractors.”
While Analyst’s Notebook is his primary day to day tool, iBase becomes essential when an investigation involves large volumes of structured data, such as logs or transactions.
One example is a job Sven took on that sat outside his due diligence work: a major diesel theft investigation for a Swedish energy company owned by a municipal authority. The company had between 300 and 400 staff, plus subcontractors, and was suffering ongoing fuel thefts.
“My job was to find out who did it really,” Sven recalls. To do that, he loaded two key datasets into iBase - the times of the thefts and the access logs for every staff member over a two year period.
“I put it into the iBase and it was quite simple,” he says. “I could see and point out the person has been working at the same time as the thefts.”
The company operated 24/7, but the combined analysis of access logs and theft timings highlighted one individual whose presence consistently matched the theft windows.
Sven describes his work as a combination of strategic information gathering with advanced analysis methods, and central to it is i2 technology. “i2 is necessary for my job,” he says. “Maybe there are competitors to Analyst Notebook, but I couldn't work without Analyst Notebook now. In my mind, I'm still working as a journalist but now I have the tools to go work quicker and go deeper in my investigations. I’m then able to present a clear and accurate picture for my clients.”
For due diligence on new hires and acquisitions, and conducting internal investigations, i2 has helped to revolutionise how organisations in Sweden carry out due diligence and business critical background checks.
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