23rd September 2014

In Search of the Boat – A Case of Kurtz Investigations Cologne

Mr R. is the managing director of an otherwise solid GmbH specialising in boat sales. He approached the detectives of Kurtz Investigations Cologne because the former managing director of the GmbH was due to leave the company at the end of the month, yet for some time had not been adequately performing his field-sales duties and moreover refused to hand over the company laptop and the company vehicle valued at €40,000. In addition, a boat from the company’s sales stock was in the possession of this former managing director, which he vehemently denied.

 

Initial discrepancies between the client of our corporate detectives in Cologne and the target person (TP) had emerged when Mr R. examined the TP’s books. It quickly became apparent that the TP had neglected his work for years and had steered the GmbH into extremely precarious waters. To keep the boat from capsizing, the client of our Cologne detectives stripped the TP of authority and reassigned him to field sales. The TP reacted so poorly to this that he almost entirely ceased working, only occasionally attended appointments and refused all cooperation. Dismissal was the logical consequence. When it became clear that Mr R. would not be able to recover company property without external assistance, the corporate investigators of Kurtz Detective Agency Cologne were engaged.

GPS Tracker; Kurtz Detective Agency Cologne, Detectives from Cologne, Private Investigators from Cologne, Detective Team from Cologne

There were three possible residential addresses for the target person: the registered address, the parents’ address and the partner’s address. The Cologne detectives found the target vehicle at the latter. As the vehicle was registered to the company and had been provided under the contract solely for business use, the TP had breached this agreement and there was moreover a concrete suspicion that the vehicle might be hidden prior to handover. This chain of circumstances gave the detectives of Kurtz Investigations Cologne the legal opportunity to fit a GPS tracker to the vehicle. Thus the first part of the repossession was secured with a high probability. Our Cologne corporate detectives would have little to do with the company laptop, as it was likely located within the protected sphere of the TP’s most private life and therefore not accessible. What remained for our work, then, was the boat.

 

A useful lead was a very large garage owned by the GmbH that had been made available to the TP. However, the usage agreement had already expired the previous month and the TP had repeatedly been requested to hand over the garage and the keys. Unsurprisingly, the TP never complied. Consequently, the detectives of Kurtz Detective Agency Cologne gained access to the garage with the help of an experienced lockpicker to check whether the sought-after boat was stored there. But the garage had been completely cleared; the refusal to hand over the keys was evidently motivated purely by malice. The client of our Cologne corporate investigators immediately had the lock changed.

Boat Misappropriation, Copyright Beverley Goodwin; Kurtz Investigations Cologne, Corporate Investigation Cologne, Private Investigators Cologne, Corporate Investigators Cologne

The second line of enquiry concerning the boat hinged on the GPS tracker. While monitoring the movement data of the target vehicle, Kurtz Detective Agency Cologne analysed whether it had been parked near lakes or potential storage sites. During the observation period (four days) the TP did visit several locations of business partners of the client of our Cologne detective agency, although only very few of these had been agreed with the client. This gave rise to the additional suspicion that the TP was attempting to poach business partners. However, the client instructed the corporate detectives of Kurtz Investigations Cologne not to pursue that matter. The objective remained the boat. Nine locations that the target vehicle had visited and that could have served as storage sites were examined — all without success.

 

The Cologne detectives asked Mr R. to compile again all the information he could recall about the TP. Among the newly revealed facts there emerged a highly interesting detail: the TP still maintained good relations with a former business partner and lover who owned a sizeable estate in the commuter belt around Hagen. The colleagues at Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund were therefore sent to that estate and, sure enough, the sought-after boat was plainly visible over the fence standing on an unsecured meadow. That same evening Mr R. travelled to Hagen and seized the boat in person. As the corporate detectives of Kurtz Investigations Cologne later learned, the handover of the company vehicle and the laptop occurred without further friction after Mr R. intercepted the TP during an unannounced visit to a business partner. According to the client of Kurtz Detective Agency Cologne, the TP presented a resigned demeanour.

All names and locations have of course been changed to ensure full anonymity for the client and the target person.

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Cologne

Zülpicher Straße 58D

D-50674 Köln | Cologne

Tel.: +49 221 4558 0377

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-koeln.de  

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-koeln.de/en

Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-koeln

Tags: Detective Agency, Detective, Corporate Investigation, Cologne, Billing Fraud, Competitive Fraud, Embezzlement, Corporate Investigator, Corporate Detectives, Missing Property, Vehicle Repossession, Vehicle Seizure