Sample Reports

Reports you can use as they stand

Sample reports, built backwards from your proceedings.

A TGI report sets out the facts your proceedings need, separated into fact, analysis and assessment. Below are samples for the eight matter types we are asked about most, in the same structure as an actual report. All are fictional. Each begins with the anticipated proceedings or decision and the questions put by the instructing party, records the enquiry day by day with the source and the route by which each item was obtained, and states what could not be established, with the reason.

Eight samples

Matter types and countries

How to read them

“What this report is for”, at the head of each sample, shows the proceedings or decision it serves, what it provides and what comes next. “Questions and findings” answers the instructing party's questions one by one. The box near the end on how the findings might be used is one illustration of how they can be carried into an application, supporting material, contract terms or a claims decision. The judgement as to how facts are used, and in which proceedings, remains yours.

Sample A

CONFIDENTIAL

Report on the Whereabouts of a Defendant

Confirming an address for service under the Hague Service Convention | Japan

This report is delivered to your firm in strict confidence and is for your firm's internal use only. It may not be copied, lent, translated or used for any other purpose, and may not be disclosed to anyone other than the instructing party and those properly engaged by them.

Matter number
TGI-G-2026-A (fictional)
Country
Japan (Tokyo, Fukuoka)
Type of enquiry
Whereabouts enquiry with on-site confirmation
Period
3 to 15 June 2026 (9 working days)
Date of report
17 June 2026
Carried out by
Trust Japan, field investigation unit (Japan team)
What this report is for
Proceedings: a civil action in a United States court; service on a defendant in Japan through Japan's Central Authority under the Hague Service Convention
What it provides: a residential address confirmed by observation, the workplace address, the name and addresses in Japanese script as they should appear in the request, and a dated record of the steps taken
Next step: preparing the request with a Japanese translation; if service fails, a record of diligence for an application for alternative service

Anticipated proceedingsService of process in Japan through the Central Authority

Your client has commenced an action for breach of contract and fraud. The defendant, a Japanese national who lived in California until 2024, has returned to Japan. Japan does not accept service by post, so service has to go through the Central Authority, which takes several months; a request sent to a wrong address comes back unserved and the time is lost. Your firm needs a current address that has been confirmed on the ground before the request is made.

Questions and findings

  • Current residential address → An apartment in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, confirmed by observation on two consecutive days
  • Workplace → The Tokyo branch of the family company, of which the defendant became a director in April 2025
  • Identity → Matched against the photograph supplied, at the workplace and at the residence
  • Name and address in Japanese script → Supplied in the form used on the mailbox and in the commercial register
  • Whether the defendant was alerted → No contact was made with the defendant, the family or the employer

Part 1Fact

  • 03 JunInstructions and materials received: name (romanised, and in kanji from a business card), date of birth, former address in California, the name of the family company in Japan, a 2019 address in Fukuoka (the parents' home) and one photograph.Source: materials supplied by your firm
  • 04 JunConfirmed that the resident register cannot be obtained by a third party (Basic Resident Register Act). No direct enquiry is possible.Route: constraint of the system recorded
  • 05 JunCommercial register obtained for the family company (Fukuoka). The defendant was appointed a director in April 2025. A branch office in Minato-ku, Tokyo, is registered.Route: Legal Affairs Bureau, certificate of registered matters (obtained; translation attached)
  • 09 JunTokyo branch visited. The company name is shown on the floor directory. At 09:10 a man matching the photograph entered the office.Route: on-site observation (two investigators; photographs)
  • 10 JunThe same man left the office at 18:40 and travelled by train to an apartment building in Setagaya-ku. He opened the mailbox for unit 302, which bears the defendant's surname in kanji and in roman letters, and entered the unit with a key.Route: on-site observation (two investigators; photographs)
  • 11 JunHe left unit 302 at 08:05 and arrived at the Tokyo branch at 09:05. The same journey home was observed that evening.Route: on-site observation (two investigators; photographs)
  • 12 JunReal estate register obtained for unit 302. The owner is a third party; the defendant is presumed to be a tenant.Route: Legal Affairs Bureau, certificate of registered matters (obtained; translation attached)
Photo 1: floor directory at the Tokyo branch (9 June 2026, 09:05) / Photos 2–3: the subject entering the office (9 June) / Photos 4–6: the apartment building, the mailbox for unit 302 and the subject entering the unit (10 June) / Photos 7–8: departure and arrival (11 June)

Part 2Analysis

The defendant lives at unit 302 and works at the Tokyo branch. The pattern was the same on two consecutive working days, and the mailbox carries his name. The 2019 address in Fukuoka is his parents' home and is not where he lives. Whether his resident register has been moved to Setagaya-ku could not be checked; that does not affect where documents will actually reach him.

A common pattern in this type of matter
People who return to Japan often leave their resident register at the parents' home, or move it late. An address supplied from memory in roman letters frequently has the district and block numbers in the wrong order, and a request sent to it comes back unserved. The Central Authority's request and the court's service documents work from the address in Japanese script. In this matter the residence was confirmed on the ground first, and the name and address are supplied in Japanese script as they appear on site and in the register.

Part 3Assessment

The residence at unit 302 is the appropriate address for service. The workplace can be given as a supplementary address. How the request is framed, and whether to apply for another method of service if this one fails, is for your firm. No contact was made with the defendant, so nothing in this work should have alerted him to the proceedings.

How your firm might use it
Give unit 302 as the address for service in the request to the Central Authority, with the name and address in Japanese script as set out in the annex, and the Tokyo branch as a supplementary address. Attach the Japanese translation of the documents to be served. If service is returned, the dated record of the steps taken here supports a declaration of diligence in an application for alternative service. If the address needs to be confirmed again shortly before a hearing, that can be done as a further step.

Not establishedand why

The address on the resident register: closed to third parties. If Japanese counsel is engaged in related proceedings in Japan, it can be obtained through counsel.

The terms of the tenancy: tenancy is presumed from the register. The landlord was not approached, to avoid any contact that might reach the defendant.

Assets: outside the scope of this enquiry. Can be taken up as a further step.

Source documents attached

  • Commercial register of the family company (with translation)
  • Real estate register for unit 302 (with translation)
  • Observation log, 9 to 11 June, signed by two investigators
  • Eight photographs (with date, time and location)
  • Annex: name and addresses in Japanese script
  • Chronology of the enquiry

This sample is fictional and bears no relation to any real person, organisation or matter. Its structure and level of detail are the same as in an actual report.

Sample B

CONFIDENTIAL

Pre-Enforcement Groundwork Report on a Judgment Debtor

Facts for an execution judgment and enforcement in Japan | Japan, with enquiries in Singapore

This report is delivered to your firm in strict confidence and is for your firm's internal use only. It may not be copied, lent, translated or used for any other purpose, and may not be disclosed to anyone other than the instructing party and those properly engaged by them.

Matter number
TGI-G-2026-B (fictional)
Country
Singapore; Japan (Tokyo, Kanagawa)
Type of enquiry
Pre-enforcement groundwork (whereabouts, employment, circumstances and known property)
Period
1 to 17 July 2026 (12 working days)
Date of report
21 July 2026
Carried out by
UIC Associates (Singapore) / Trust Japan (Japan) / coordinated by TGI
What this report is for
Proceedings: an application in Japan for an execution judgment on a foreign judgment (Civil Execution Act, art. 24), followed by enforcement
What it provides: the debtor's current address in Japan and whether he in fact lives there, his position as representative of a newly formed company, the register for property at the known address, the registration and operating reality of the new company, and a lead to its bank
Next step: the application for an execution judgment with Japanese counsel; after that, a court order to banks for disclosure of deposits and attachment of the debtor's remuneration as a director

Anticipated proceedingsAn execution judgment in Japan, followed by enforcement

Your client, a Singapore company, holds a final judgment for S$1.2 million for repayment of a loan. The debtor is a Japanese national who ran a trading company in Singapore. Around the time of judgment he wound up the business and returned to Japan, leaving nothing in Singapore to enforce against. Your firm intends to work with Japanese counsel to obtain an execution judgment and enforce in Japan, and first needs the debtor's whereabouts, employment and circumstances in Japan, and such information on known property as can serve as a starting point.

Questions and findings

  • Singapore: the state of the business, and leads to Japan → The Singapore company has been struck off. The name of a new company the debtor has formed in Japan was obtained from former trading partners
  • Current address in Japan → A house in Yokohama, Kanagawa, with residence confirmed on site
  • Employment → Representative director of a trading company formed in Tokyo. Commercial register obtained
  • Circumstances → Lives in a detached house in his spouse's name; uses one car
  • Register for property at the known address → Land and building owned by the spouse (acquired 2019), subject to a mortgage
  • Operating reality of the new company → The registered head office is a shared office. The actual place of business is a rented office in Yokohama

Part 1Fact

  • 01 JulInstructions and materials received: copy of the final judgment, the debtor's name (kanji and romanised), date of birth, copy of passport, the name of the Singapore company, and a place of residence in Japan known only as far as the city (Kanagawa).Source: materials supplied by your firm
  • 03 Jul[Singapore] Company record obtained. The company of which the debtor was director was struck off in December 2025.Route: ACRA business profile (obtained by UIC Associates)
  • 04 Jul[Singapore] Former registered office visited; the premises have been vacated. Two former trading partners interviewed: the debtor returned to Japan at the end of 2025 and has continued to quote Singapore customers in the name of a new Japanese company. The name of the new company, a business card and a quotation were obtained.Route: site visit and interviews by UIC Associates (two investigators; interview notes attached)
  • 07 Jul[Japan] Commercial register obtained under the new company's name. A stock company formed in November 2025 with capital of JPY 3 million; head office in Minato-ku, Tokyo; the debtor is the representative director, with a registered home address in Yokohama.Route: Legal Affairs Bureau, certificate of registered matters (obtained; translation attached)
  • 09 Jul[Japan] Registered home address visited. A detached house; the nameplate bears the debtor's surname. On two consecutive days the debtor was seen leaving in the morning and returning at night. One car is kept at the house.Route: on-site observation (two investigators; photographs)
  • 10 Jul[Japan] Real estate register obtained for that address. The land and the building are owned by the debtor's spouse, acquired in 2019, and are subject to a mortgage in favour of a financial institution.Route: Legal Affairs Bureau, certificates of registered matters for land and building (obtained; translations attached)
  • 14 Jul[Japan] Registered head office visited. It is a shared office; reception confirmed that the company uses a plan providing a registered address and mail handling only. The debtor was separately confirmed attending a rented office in Yokohama three to four days a week; the door carries the new company's name.Route: on-site observation (two investigators; photographs)
  • 16 JulMaterial from Singapore and Japan compared. The products on the new company's card and quotation are the same as those of the former Singapore company. The account for payment shown on the quotation is in the new company's name at a Japanese bank, with bank and branch stated.Route: quotation supplied by a former trading partner, compared with the material from both sides
Photo 1: former registered office in Singapore (4 July 2026) / Photos 2–4: the house in Yokohama, the nameplate and the car (9 July) / Photos 5–6: entrance and floor directory of the shared office in Minato-ku (14 July) / Photos 7–8: door sign of the rented office in Yokohama (14 July)

Part 2Analysis

The debtor lives at the house in Yokohama, which can serve as the address for service in the Japanese proceedings. The property is in the spouse's name and was acquired in 2019, before the dispute; it is difficult to connect with the judgment. The new company was formed one month before the Singapore company was struck off, with the same products and customers, and it appears that the debtor has carried the Singapore business on through it. As representative director, his remuneration from the company and his shares in it are his own property. The account on the quotation is the company's, not his; but the bank and branch are a lead for identifying his personal deposits later.

A common pattern in this type of matter
After losing, or expecting to lose, abroad, the debtor closes the overseas business, returns to Japan and continues the same trade through a new company. The home is usually in the name of a spouse or relative. In Japan, real estate and deposits cannot be searched by name, so the lead to the new company is obtained first from trading partners on the overseas side, and the Japanese side then verifies step by step through the commercial register, the real estate register and observation on site. Since October 2024 a representative director may apply to have part of the home address withheld from the register; where that has been done, the starting point becomes observation at the place of business.

Part 3Assessment

In order of practicability, the candidates for enforcement are: (1) the debtor's claim to remuneration as a director, with the new company as third-party debtor; (2) his shares in the new company; (3) deposits in his own name, not yet identified. Under the Civil Execution Act, once an execution judgment has been obtained, deposits can be identified through a court order to banks, and real estate through the registry after a property disclosure procedure. For an ordinary money claim, however, information on the debtor's employer cannot be obtained through the court; that route is limited to maintenance claims and claims for death or personal injury. The employment and the source of remuneration therefore rest on the on-site confirmation in this report.

Whether the requirements for an execution judgment are met (Code of Civil Procedure, art. 118), and which of these procedures to use, is for your firm and Japanese counsel. This report supplies the facts those proceedings need.

How your firm might use it
In the application for an execution judgment, give the house in Yokohama as the defendant's address, with the photographs and the record of residence attached. After the execution judgment, apply first to attach the debtor's remuneration from the new company, and next his shares. For deposits, apply for disclosure by banks, beginning with the bank shown in this report. The continuity between the former Singapore company and the new Japanese company (products, customers, and the timing of formation and striking off) is background for your firm's consideration of any separate claim against the new company.

Not establishedand why

Deposit accounts in the debtor's own name: cannot be searched by name in Japan. After the execution judgment they can be identified through a court order to banks; the bank and branch used by the new company are supplied as a lead.

The amount of the director's remuneration: not confirmed. It is stated by the third-party debtor, the new company, in the attachment proceedings.

The shareholders of the new company: not recorded in the Japanese commercial register. Can be confirmed by other means as a further step if needed.

Source documents attached

  • ACRA business profile of the former Singapore company
  • Interview notes from the former trading partners (4 July); the new company's business card and quotation
  • Commercial register of the new company (with translation)
  • Real estate registers for the land and the building (with translations)
  • Eight photographs (with date, time and location)
  • Chronology of the enquiry, Singapore and Japan

This sample is fictional and bears no relation to any real person, organisation or matter. Its structure and level of detail are the same as in an actual report.

Sample C

CONFIDENTIAL

Heir Search and Proof-of-Life Report

Locating a sibling and establishing the line of entitlement for an intestate estate | Japan

This report is delivered to your firm in strict confidence and is for your firm's internal use only. It may not be copied, lent, translated or used for any other purpose, and may not be disclosed to anyone other than the instructing party and those properly engaged by them.

Matter number
TGI-G-2026-C (fictional)
Country
Japan (Kumamoto, Fukuoka)
Type of enquiry
Locating an heir, proof of life, and obtaining supporting documents
Period
6 to 20 May 2026 (10 working days)
Date of report
22 May 2026
Carried out by
Trust Japan, field investigation unit (Japan team)
What this report is for
Proceedings: administration of an intestate estate in Australia, and distribution to the persons entitled
What it provides: whether the deceased's brother in Japan is alive; if not, the date of death and his children; their addresses and contact details; and the family registers that prove the deaths and the relationships
Next step: certified family registers with translation and apostille; confirming the wishes of the two children; if the deceased may have owned property in Japan, the heirs' application for the registry certificate

Anticipated proceedingsAdministration and distribution of an intestate estate

The deceased, born in Japan and a permanent resident of Queensland, died in January 2026 without a will, a spouse or children. Her siblings are entitled on intestacy. One sister lives in Australia. A brother in Japan has not been heard from for more than twenty years. The administrator needs to know whether he is alive and where; if he has died, when, and whether he left children; and needs documents that prove the relationships.

Questions and findings

  • Is the brother alive? → No. He died in September 2022 in a hospital in Fukuoka
  • Did he leave children? → Two: a daughter in Fukuoka and a son in Osaka. His wife is living
  • Addresses and contact details → Obtained for the daughter, with her consent; the son's details supplied by her
  • Documents proving death and relationship → Copies of the family register showing the brother's death and his two children, supplied by the daughter
  • Documents proving that the deceased and the brother were siblings → Obtainable by the daughter as a lineal descendant. Application in hand as a further step

Part 1Fact

  • 06 MayInstructions and materials received: the deceased's name (kanji and romanised), date and place of birth (Kumamoto), the brother's name, an address from a letter of 1998 (Kumamoto City) and family photographs.Source: materials supplied by your firm
  • 08 MayConfirmed that the family register and the resident register cannot be obtained by a third party (Family Register Act; Basic Resident Register Act). No direct enquiry is possible.Route: constraint of the system recorded
  • 12 MayThe 1998 address visited. Another family now lives there. Two long-standing neighbours said that the brother moved to Fukuoka around 2010 to live near his daughter, and had been unwell.Route: site visit and interviews (two investigators)
  • 13 MayThe head of the neighbourhood association gave the daughter's married name and said that she runs a dental clinic in Fukuoka. The clinic was found in a public listing.Route: interview; open sources
  • 15 MayThe daughter was contacted by letter, enclosing the administrator's letter of authority, and then by telephone. She agreed to meet.Route: letter and telephone call
  • 18 MayMeeting with the daughter in Fukuoka. Her father died in September 2022 in a hospital in the city. Her mother is living. There are two children, herself and a brother in Osaka. She supplied copies of the family register showing her father's death and both children, and her brother's contact details.Route: meeting (two investigators); documents supplied by a family member
  • 20 MayThe documents supplied were checked for issuing municipality, date of issue and seal, and an English translation was prepared.Route: inspection of the documents; translation
Photo 1: the 1998 address as it is now (12 May 2026, Kumamoto City) / Photo 2: exterior of the clinic (18 May, Fukuoka) / Photo 3: the family register copies as received (18 May)

Part 2Analysis

The brother died in September 2022, before the deceased. He left two children, both adults and both located. His death and the parent-child relationships are supported by the family register supplied by the daughter, and are consistent with what the neighbours said. What is still needed is documentary proof that the deceased and the brother were children of the same parents; that is shown in the parents' family register, which the daughter can obtain as a lineal descendant.

A common pattern in this type of matter
The last known address is decades old and the family has moved. Family and resident registers are closed to third parties, so the search runs through the old neighbourhood to a relative, and the relative, who is entitled to the registers, obtains them. Since March 2024 a person can request their own and their lineal ancestors' family registers at any municipal office, which shortens this step considerably. The registers, going back to the parents, prove deaths and relationships in a form foreign courts and registries accept once translated and apostilled.

Part 3Assessment

Because the brother died before the deceased, the question is whether his two children take his share. That is a matter for the law governing the succession and for your firm. For the administration, the persons concerned have been identified and located, and the documents can be completed: the brother's register is in hand, and the parents' register can be obtained through the daughter. Both children were told only that the enquiry concerns an estate abroad; no advice was given to them.

How your firm might use it
Rely on the family register for the brother's death and his two children, and on the parents' register, when obtained, for the sibling relationship. Have certified copies issued, translated and apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan for use in Australia. Confirm each child's wishes and identity in writing; attendance at a notary in Japan can be arranged if signatures need to be witnessed. If the deceased may have owned property in Japan, her heirs can apply to the Legal Affairs Bureau for a certificate listing property registered in her name; we can assist with that application as a further step.

Not establishedand why

Certified copies of the registers obtained directly: third parties cannot obtain them. The copies in hand were supplied by the daughter; certified copies will be requested by her.

The son's wishes: not yet confirmed. Contact details are in hand, and this follows as the next step.

Any property of the deceased in Japan: outside the scope of this enquiry.

Source documents attached

  • Copies of the family register showing the brother's death and his children (with translation)
  • Record of the meeting on 18 May, signed by two investigators
  • Notes of the interviews with neighbours and the neighbourhood association (12 and 13 May)
  • Three photographs (with date, time and location)
  • Chronology of the enquiry

This sample is fictional and bears no relation to any real person, organisation or matter. Its structure and level of detail are the same as in an actual report.

Sample D

CONFIDENTIAL

Counterparty Verification Report

Operating reality and management background before a supply agreement | Korea

This report is delivered to your firm in strict confidence and is for your firm's internal use only. It may not be copied, lent, translated or used for any other purpose, and may not be disclosed to anyone other than the instructing party and those properly engaged by them.

Matter number
TGI-G-2026-D (fictional)
Country
Korea (Seoul, Incheon)
Type of enquiry
Corporate investigation (registries, on-site confirmation, management background)
Period
3 to 18 August 2026 (11 working days)
Date of report
20 August 2026
Carried out by
Korea field team (long-standing local partner), directed by Trust Japan; coordinated by TGI
What this report is for
Transaction: a three-year exclusive supply agreement with a Korean cosmetics company, and the decision on a 30% advance payment
What it provides: the registration and status of the company; who owns and operates the factory it presented; headcount against what was represented; who owns the brand trade mark; the representative director's business history
Next step: contract terms (naming the factory, the trade mark, conditions on the advance), and the documents to require from the counterparty that only it can obtain

Anticipated transactionExclusive supply agreement with an advance payment

Your client, a retail group in Malaysia, is about to sign a three-year exclusive supply agreement for a skincare line with a Korean company that describes itself as a manufacturer with its own factory in Incheon and 120 employees. The draft provides for an advance payment of 30% of the first order. The client has met the representative director twice, in Kuala Lumpur and at a trade fair in Seoul, and has not visited the factory. Your firm needs to know whether the company is what it says it is before the agreement is signed.

Questions and findings

  • Registration and status → Established 2019, capital KRW 500 million, business registration active
  • Licence to manufacture → Registered as a responsible cosmetics seller only, not as a cosmetics manufacturer
  • The factory → Registered to, and owned by, a different company. The counterparty rents one office there and places production with the owner
  • Headcount → 14 persons enrolled in the national pension at the counterparty's workplace, against 120 represented
  • The brand trade mark → Registered in the name of the representative director personally, not the company
  • The representative director's history → Previously represented a cosmetics distributor that closed in 2022. A creditor's provisional attachment over his home in 2022, released in 2023

Part 1Fact

  • 03 AugInstructions and materials received: company name in Korean and English, business registration number, the company brochure (“own factory in Incheon, 120 employees”), the draft agreement and the representative director's business card.Source: materials supplied by your firm
  • 04 AugCorporate register obtained. A stock company established in March 2019; capital KRW 500 million; head office in Seongdong-gu, Seoul; one representative director, whose home address in Seoul is shown, and two other directors. Business registration status checked: active.Route: Supreme Court Internet Registry Office, certificate of registered matters (obtained; translation attached); National Tax Service business status lookup (screen record)
  • 05 AugCosmetics business registration checked. The counterparty is registered as a responsible cosmetics seller. It holds no registration as a cosmetics manufacturer. The company at the Incheon address is registered as a manufacturer.Route: Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, public register of cosmetics businesses (printouts)
  • 06 AugFactory registration and real estate register obtained for the Incheon address. The factory is registered to a different company, which also owns the land and buildings, subject to a bank's collateral.Route: Korea Industrial Complex Corporation, factory registration lookup; Internet Registry Office, real estate register (obtained; translations attached)
  • 10 AugIncheon site visited. The gate and signboard carry the other company's name. The counterparty's name appears on a plate on a second-floor office door. The security desk and one employee of the factory said that the counterparty “rents the office and orders products from us; it is one of our customers”. At the shift change, some 80 to 90 workers were counted, in the factory owner's uniforms.Route: site visit and interviews (two investigators; photographs)
  • 11 AugHead office in Seongdong-gu visited. An office of about 100 square metres in a multi-tenant business building; eight to ten staff seen; the brand's products on display.Route: site visit (two investigators; photographs)
  • 12 AugPension enrolment checked. 14 persons enrolled at the counterparty's workplace as of June 2026; 96 at the factory owner's.Route: National Pension Service open data on workplace enrolment (extract attached)
  • 13 AugTrade mark search. The brand's word and device marks in class 3 were registered in 2020 in the name of the representative director as an individual. No licence to the company is recorded.Route: KIPRIS, Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (printouts)
  • 14 AugCredit report obtained on the counterparty. Revenue of KRW 4.2 billion in 2025 with a small operating profit; two late payments to suppliers recorded in 2025; the representative director is shown as former representative of a cosmetics distribution company.Route: commercial credit report (obtained)
  • 17 AugThe former company's corporate register obtained; its business registration was closed in March 2022. The real estate register for the representative director's home, at the address in the corporate register, shows co-ownership with his spouse, a bank's collateral, and a provisional attachment registered by a corporate creditor in June 2022 for a claim of KRW 180 million, cancelled in February 2023.Route: Internet Registry Office, corporate and real estate registers (obtained; translations attached); National Tax Service business status lookup
Photos 1–3: Incheon factory gate, signboard and the second-floor office door (10 August 2026) / Photo 4: shift change (10 August) / Photos 5–6: head office building directory and entrance (11 August)

Part 2Analysis

The counterparty exists, is active and sells the brand. It is not a manufacturer. It holds no manufacturer's registration, neither owns nor operates the factory it presented, and employs roughly a tenth of the number represented. Production is placed with the factory's owner, of which it is one customer among others. A brand company that outsources production is a common and legitimate model in the Korean cosmetics sector; the difficulty is that it was presented differently, and that the draft agreement treats the counterparty as the maker.

The trade mark is held by the representative director personally, so the company's ability to grant exclusivity over the brand rests on an arrangement with him that does not appear on the register. His earlier company closed in 2022 and a creditor attached his home in that year. The attachment was released in 2023, which is consistent with a settlement; the underlying dispute was not examined.

A common pattern in this type of matter
Korean brand companies that outsource production often present the manufacturer's plant as “our factory”. The corporate register shows the directors and the representative director's address, but not the shareholders; companies below the threshold for external audit file no public accounts; and court records cannot be searched by name. The gap is filled by other public records: sector registers such as the cosmetics business register, factory registration, pension enrolment data, the trade mark register, and the real estate register, where creditors' provisional attachments appear with the amount claimed.

Part 3Assessment

The counterparty can be dealt with as a brand owner and seller, not as a manufacturer. An advance of 30% paid to a company with 14 employees and no plant carries a recovery risk that the draft does not address. The points for your firm are whether to bring the actual manufacturer into the contract or obtain its written undertaking; whether the trade mark should be licensed or assigned to the company, or the director joined as a party; and how the advance is to be conditioned or secured. These are questions of contract design and are for your firm.

How your firm might use it
Name the manufacturing plant and its operator in the agreement, require consent before production is moved, and obtain the manufacturer's written confirmation of capacity and of its contract with the counterparty. Require a recorded licence of the mark from the director to the company, or join him as a party with a warranty of title. Replace the advance with payment against inspection, or secure it by a standby letter of credit or the director's personal guarantee. Ask the counterparty for documents that only it can obtain (the shareholder register, national and local tax payment certificates, and the certificate of social insurance contributions) and compare them with this report.

Not establishedand why

Shareholders: not recorded in the corporate register; the shareholder register is kept by the company. To be required from the counterparty as a condition.

Litigation: court records cannot be searched by name by third parties. The credit report shows nothing pending. A statement of litigation can be required as a warranty, and Korean counsel can check any case that is identified.

The terms between the counterparty and the manufacturer: not seen. To be requested.

The reason for the 2022 attachment: the creditor was not approached, so as not to alert the counterparty.

Source documents attached

  • Corporate registers of the counterparty and of the former company (with translations)
  • Printouts from the cosmetics business register
  • Factory registration, and real estate registers for the factory and the residence (with translations)
  • Pension enrolment extract; trade mark printouts; credit report
  • Site visit record signed by two investigators; six photographs (with date, time and location)
  • Chronology of the enquiry

This sample is fictional and bears no relation to any real person, organisation or matter. Its structure and level of detail are the same as in an actual report.

Sample E

CONFIDENTIAL

Report on Beneficial Control and Asset Structure

A family-run company and the holding vehicles behind it | Taiwan

This report is delivered to your firm in strict confidence and is for your firm's internal use only. It may not be copied, lent, translated or used for any other purpose, and may not be disclosed to anyone other than the instructing party and those properly engaged by them.

Matter number
TGI-G-2026-E (fictional)
Country
Taiwan (Taichung, Taipei)
Type of enquiry
Corporate and asset structure enquiry (registries, court records, on-site confirmation)
Period
1 to 16 June 2026 (11 working days)
Date of report
18 June 2026
Carried out by
UIC Associates (Taipei); coordinated by TGI
What this report is for
Proceedings: matrimonial proceedings in Hong Kong, in which the husband's financial disclosure is disputed
What it provides: the husband's direct and indirect interests in the family company; the vehicles through which they are held; who owns the factory site; his role in the business; the litigation and credit record
Next step: targeted questions and requests for documents in the proceedings; Taiwanese counsel for anything that needs a court or a legal interest in Taiwan

Anticipated proceedingsFinancial disclosure in matrimonial proceedings

Your client is the wife. The husband, born in Taiwan, states in his financial disclosure that he is a salaried director of his family's machinery-parts company in Taichung, holds 0.8% of its shares and has no other interest in it. Your client believes that he is the designated successor and that his interest is held through family investment companies. Your firm needs facts from public records on which to frame questions and requests for documents.

Questions and findings

  • Direct shareholding → 0.8%, as disclosed
  • Indirect interests → He holds 60% of Investment Company A and is its director. That company holds 38% of the operating company and owns the factory land and buildings
  • Other family vehicle → Investment Company B holds 24% and is chaired by his sister. Its shareholders other than directors are not on public record
  • Role in the business → Director since 2016; vice president in charge of overseas sales; the company's named contact at two trade fairs
  • Litigation and credit → One commercial judgment (2021) involving the operating company; none involving the husband. No dishonoured-cheque record for the three companies
  • Apartment in Taipei → The owner's given name is masked on the transcript open to the public; the surname is the husband's

Part 1Fact

  • 01 JunInstructions and materials received: the husband's name (Chinese characters and romanised), date of birth, the operating company's name, an extract of his disclosure, an address in Taipei and photographs.Source: materials supplied by your firm
  • 02 JunOperating company's registration obtained. A company limited by shares with paid-in capital of NT$300 million. The chairman is the husband's father. Five directors and one supervisor, with shareholdings on the register as follows: the father 9.5%; the husband 0.8%; two seats held by representatives of Investment Company A, which holds 38%; one seat held by a representative of Investment Company B, which holds 24%; the supervisor, the husband's mother, 2%. The remaining 25.7% is not on public record.Route: Ministry of Economic Affairs, commerce and industry registration public data (printout; translation attached)
  • 03 JunInvestment Company A: a limited company established in 2014. The register lists every member and the amount contributed: the husband NT$48 million (60%) and his mother NT$32 million (40%). The husband is its director. The registered address is a residential building in Taichung.Route: as above (printout; translation attached)
  • 03 JunInvestment Company B: a company limited by shares. The chair is the husband's sister. The directors together hold 55%; the remainder is not on public record.Route: as above (printout; translation attached)
  • 05 JunLand and building transcripts obtained for the factory site in Taichung. The owner of the land and the buildings is Investment Company A, which acquired them in 2015. A maximum-amount mortgage of NT$240 million is registered in favour of a bank, with the operating company as debtor.Route: land office, category 2 transcripts (obtained; translations attached)
  • 08 JunFactory visited. In operation, under the operating company's signboard; a recruitment listing gives about 200 employees, which is consistent with the shift change observed. The registered address of Investment Company A is a residential building with no signage.Route: site visit (two investigators; photographs); open sources
  • 09 JunThe company's English website names the husband as Vice President, Overseas Sales. The exhibitor directories of two trade fairs, in 2025 and 2026, give him as the company's contact.Route: open sources (dated captures)
  • 10 JunCourt judgments searched under the names of the three companies and of the husband. One civil judgment in 2021 between the operating company and a supplier over a price of NT$6 million, in which the company succeeded. None in which the husband is a party; persons of the same name were excluded by reference to the content of the judgments.Route: Judicial Yuan judgment search (printouts)
  • 11 JunCheque credit records checked for the three companies: no dishonour and no refusal of dealings.Route: Taiwan Clearing House, category 2 cheque credit enquiry (results attached)
  • 12 JunTranscript obtained for the apartment at the Taipei address supplied. The owner is an individual whose given name is masked; the surname is the same as the husband's. Acquired in 2017; no mortgage.Route: land office, category 2 transcript (obtained; translation attached)
Photos 1–3: factory gate, signboard and shift change (8 June 2026, Taichung) / Photo 4: registered address of Investment Company A (8 June) / Photo 5: the apartment building in Taipei (12 June)

Part 2Analysis

What the husband disclosed is accurate as far as it goes: he holds 0.8% in his own name. The public record shows more. He holds 60% of Investment Company A and is its director. That company holds 38% of the operating company, fills two of its five board seats, and owns the land and buildings from which it operates, which in turn secure the operating company's bank borrowing. On the arithmetic alone his indirect interest in the operating company is about 22.8%, and the factory site stands in a company he controls. His sister's vehicle holds a further 24%. Whether these interests are resources available to him, and what they are worth, cannot be read from the registers.

A common pattern in this type of matter
Taiwanese family businesses commonly hold the shares of the operating company, and often its land, through family investment companies, and seat family members on the board as representatives of those companies (Company Act, art. 27). The public register shows the shareholding of each director and supervisor and, for a limited company, every member and the amount contributed, so a good part of the structure can be mapped from open records. The beneficial-ownership filing made under art. 22-1 of the Company Act is not open to the public. Land is searched by parcel, not by owner; on the transcript that anyone can obtain, an individual owner's name is partly masked, while a company's name appears in full.

Part 3Assessment

The report gives your firm documentary grounds for specific questions to the husband: his 60% of Investment Company A, its accounts and dividends, the lease between it and the operating company, and any shares held for him by relatives. Valuation needs the companies' financial statements, which are not public for private companies and would have to come through disclosure. Whether to seek any relief in Taiwan, and how an order made in Hong Kong would be treated there, is for your firm and Taiwanese counsel.

How your firm might use it
Put the registry extracts to the husband in a questionnaire or a request for further disclosure: the constitution and accounts of Investment Company A, its dividend history, the lease and rent for the factory site, and the shareholder registers of the operating company and of Investment Company B. Instruct a valuer on the documents produced. If the ownership of the Taipei apartment matters, a transcript showing the owner's full name can be applied for by a person with a legal interest, through Taiwanese counsel. If an order is later to be enforced in Taiwan, a creditor holding an enforceable title can apply to the tax authority for a list of the debtor's property and income; whether that route is open is a question for Taiwanese counsel.

Not establishedand why

The holders of the remaining 25.7% of the operating company, and the shareholders of Investment Company B other than its directors: the shareholder registers are kept by the companies. Obtainable through disclosure.

Financial statements and dividends: not public for private companies.

Bank accounts and securities: cannot be searched by third parties.

The owner of the Taipei apartment: the given name is masked on the public transcript. See above for the next step.

Source documents attached

  • Registration printouts for the three companies (with translations)
  • Land and building transcripts for the factory site and the apartment (with translations)
  • Judgment printout; cheque credit enquiry results
  • Site visit record signed by two investigators; five photographs (with date, time and location)
  • Dated captures of the website and the exhibitor directories
  • Chart of holdings; chronology of the enquiry

This sample is fictional and bears no relation to any real person, organisation or matter. Its structure and level of detail are the same as in an actual report.

Sample F

CONFIDENTIAL

Death Claim Verification Report

Verifying a death reported abroad for a life insurance claim | Indonesia

This report is delivered to the instructing party in strict confidence and is for its internal use only. It may not be copied, lent, translated or used for any other purpose, and may not be disclosed to anyone other than the instructing party and those properly engaged by it.

Matter number
TGI-G-2026-F (fictional)
Country
Indonesia (East Java: Malang Regency, Malang City)
Type of enquiry
Claim verification (issuing offices, on-site confirmation, interviews)
Period
6 to 21 July 2026 (12 working days)
Date of report
23 July 2026
Carried out by
Indonesia field team (long-standing local partner), directed by Trust Japan; coordinated by TGI
What this report is for
Decision: assessment of a death claim under a life policy issued in Australia
What it provides: whether each document supplied with the claim is confirmed by the office named on it; what the civil registry entry was based on; what the hospital, the police, the neighbourhood and the cemetery hold; the inconsistencies between the documents
Next step: the originals, questions to the claimant, and the further enquiries open to the insurer

Decision to be madeA death claim supported by documents issued abroad

The insured, born in Indonesia and resident in Australia, took out a life policy for A$1.5 million fourteen months before the claim. The claimant, his wife, states that he died in a road accident while visiting his family in East Java and was buried there the next day. The claim is supported by copies of four Indonesian documents: a death certificate from the civil registry, a death letter from a private hospital, a police accident report and a burial letter from the village. Your claims team asked for each document to be verified with the office that issued it, and for the circumstances to be confirmed on the ground. All enquiries were made under the claimant's signed authorisation.

Questions and findings

  • Death certificate → A genuine civil registry document. The entry was made on a village death letter that gives illness at home as the cause, not an accident
  • Hospital death letter → Not confirmed. The hospital has no record of the patient; the layout and numbering are not the hospital's; the doctor named is not on its staff
  • Police accident report → Not confirmed. The traffic unit has no report under that number, and no fatal accident at that place on that date
  • Burial → Not traced. The cemetery caretaker and the neighbourhood head know of no burial or funeral
  • The insured's visit → The neighbourhood head and two neighbours saw him in good health during a two-week visit in the month in question
  • Whether the insured is alive → Not established; outside the scope of this enquiry

Part 1Fact

  • 06 JulInstructions and materials received: the claim form; copies of the four documents; the claimant's signed authorisation; the insured's passport copy and photograph; the family's address in Malang Regency.Source: materials supplied by your claims team
  • 07 JulDeath certificate checked. The QR code on the copy resolves to a valid civil registry record with the same name, national identity number and date of death.Route: QR verification of the civil registry document (capture)
  • 08 JulRegency civil registry office visited with the authorisation. The registration was applied for by the insured's brother-in-law four days after the stated date of death, on the basis of a death letter from the village office giving “illness, died at home”. No hospital or police document was filed.Route: enquiry at the counter of the Population and Civil Registration Office (two investigators; officer's name and notes recorded)
  • 09 JulVillage office visited. The village secretary confirmed that the letter was issued on the brother-in-law's statement and a copy of the family card, and that no official saw the body. The entry in the village death register was made the same day.Route: interview at the village office (notes; register entry photographed with permission)
  • 10 JulThe hospital named on the death letter visited. The records office, shown the authorisation, found no admission or emergency record under the insured's name, identity number or date. The letter's layout and reference series are not those the hospital uses, and the doctor named is not and has not been on its staff. The public register of medical practitioners shows no practitioner of that name registered in the province.Route: enquiry at the hospital records office (officer's name and notes recorded); public register search (capture)
  • 13 JulThe district police traffic unit named on the accident report visited. No report exists under the number quoted; the number does not follow the unit's series for 2026; the unit's register shows no fatal accident at the stated junction on the stated date.Route: enquiry at the traffic accident unit (officer's name and notes recorded)
  • 14 JulThe junction visited. A shopkeeper, a parking attendant and two motorcycle-taxi drivers who work there daily recalled no fatal accident in that week.Route: site visit and interviews (two investigators; photographs)
  • 15–16 JulThe family's neighbourhood visited. The neighbourhood head said that the insured stayed with his family for about two weeks in the month in question and appeared well, that no death was reported to him and that no funeral prayers were held. Two neighbours said the same; one added that the insured had said he was going back to Surabaya to fly home. The caretaker of the village cemetery named in the burial letter knew of no burial under that name and could show no new grave from that period.Route: interviews (two investigators; notes); cemetery photographed
  • 17 JulThe burial letter supplied with the claim compared with the village office's own file copy of its death letter. The signature and the stamp differ.Route: comparison of documents
  • 20 JulThe four documents set side by side. Cause and place of death differ: a road accident and death in hospital in the claim; illness at home in the document on which the registration rests.Route: comparison of documents (table attached)
Photo 1: the civil registry office (8 July 2026) / Photo 2: the village death register entry (9 July) / Photo 3: the hospital (10 July) / Photo 4: the junction (14 July) / Photos 5–6: the village cemetery (16 July)

Part 2Analysis

The death certificate is a genuine document, but what it proves is that a death was registered, and it was registered on a relative's statement to the village office. What it rests on contradicts the claim: illness at home, against a road accident and death in hospital. The two documents that would corroborate the claim, the hospital letter and the police report, are not recognised by the offices named on them, and the burial letter does not match the village's file copy. The traces that a death of this kind ordinarily leaves were not found: an admission record, a police file, a funeral known to the neighbourhood head, a grave. People who know the insured saw him in good health during the visit.

None of this establishes that the insured is alive. It establishes that the death as claimed is not supported by the sources that should support it.

A common pattern in this type of matter
In Indonesia a death at home can be registered on the strength of a letter from the village office, which is issued on a family member's statement; the civil registry then issues a genuine certificate. A genuine certificate is therefore not, by itself, proof of the event. Verification works backwards from the certificate to the document it was based on, and sideways to the records a real death leaves behind: the hospital, the police, the neighbourhood head, the cemetery. For a death on the road there is also the statutory accident compensation, which families ordinarily claim.

Part 3Assessment

On these facts the claim cannot be verified as presented. Whether to decline it, to investigate further or to refer the matter is for the insurer. The strongest points are documentary and come from the issuing offices themselves, each recorded with the officer's name and the date; the interviews are supporting material. The enquiries were made openly, under the claimant's authorisation, so the family is likely to know that the claim is being checked.

How your team might use it
Ask the claimant for the originals of the four documents, and put the inconsistencies to her in interview: the cause and place of death, and who obtained each document and from whom. Ask whether the statutory road-accident compensation was claimed, and for the receipt. Ask for the insured's passport, which the family would hold if he died in Indonesia, and for evidence of his travel. If the insurer decides to establish whether the insured is alive and where, that can be taken up as a separate step, in Indonesia and in Australia. The officers named in this report can be approached again if statements are needed for proceedings.

Not establishedand why

Whether the insured is alive, and where: outside the scope of this enquiry. Immigration movement records are not open to private parties; other means can be used as a further step.

Who prepared the hospital letter and the police report: not enquired into. A matter for the authorities if the insurer refers it.

The brother-in-law's account: he was not interviewed, pending your team's decision on how the family is to be approached.

Source documents attached

  • Copies of the four documents, each with verification notes
  • QR verification capture; practitioner register capture
  • Notes of the enquiries at the civil registry office, the village office, the hospital and the police, with officers' names and dates
  • Interview notes signed by two investigators; six photographs (with date, time and location)
  • Comparison table of the four documents
  • Chronology of the enquiry

This sample is fictional and bears no relation to any real person, organisation or matter. Its structure and level of detail are the same as in an actual report.

Sample G

CONFIDENTIAL

Supplier Verification Report

A shell-company check before a deposit on a manufacturing order | Vietnam

This report is delivered to your firm in strict confidence and is for your firm's internal use only. It may not be copied, lent, translated or used for any other purpose, and may not be disclosed to anyone other than the instructing party and those properly engaged by them.

Matter number
TGI-G-2026-G (fictional)
Country
Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, including the former Binh Duong Province)
Type of enquiry
Supplier verification (registry, on-site confirmation, trade records)
Period
17 to 28 August 2026 (10 working days)
Date of report
31 August 2026
Carried out by
Vietnam field team (long-standing local partner), directed by Trust Japan; coordinated by TGI
What this report is for
Transaction: a first manufacturing order for furniture worth US$288,000, with a 30% deposit by bank transfer
What it provides: whether the supplier is registered and active; who is at its registered address; whose factory it presented; its export record; its legal representative's other companies; whose account the deposit is to be paid into
Next step: the decision on the deposit; payment terms and inspection if the order proceeds; the option of dealing with the actual manufacturer

Anticipated transactionA first order with a deposit payable in advance

Your client, an importer in the United States, found the supplier on an online trading platform, where it is described as a furniture manufacturer with its own plant north of Ho Chi Minh City. After two video calls showing a factory floor, the supplier issued a proforma invoice for US$288,000 and asked for a 30% deposit by bank transfer. The account named on the invoice is in the name of a different company. No one from the client has been to Vietnam. Your firm was asked to verify the supplier before any money is sent, without approaching it.

Questions and findings

  • Registration and status → Registered and active. A single-member company formed in December 2025 with charter capital of about US$75,000
  • Registered address → A serviced office providing a registered address and mail handling. No staff on site
  • The factory → Belongs to an unrelated, long-established exporter, which states that it has no relationship with the supplier
  • Export record → No shipment to the United States with the supplier as shipper since it was formed
  • Legal representative → Also represents two other companies, formed in 2025 and 2026 at the same address
  • The account to be paid → In the name of a company formed in March 2026 at the same address, with a different legal representative

Part 1Fact

  • 17 AugInstructions and materials received: the supplier's name and enterprise code as shown on the proforma invoice; its website and platform listing; screenshots from two video calls; the proforma invoice, naming a beneficiary account in another company's name; the contact person's name and telephone number.Source: materials supplied by your firm
  • 18 AugRegistration checked. A single-member limited liability company formed in December 2025; charter capital VND 1.9 billion (about US$75,000); the owner, an individual born in 1996, is also the legal representative; head office in Ho Chi Minh City; 27 registered lines of business, among them wholesale of furniture. Tax status: active.Route: National Business Registration Portal (extract obtained; translation attached); the tax authority's public taxpayer lookup (capture)
  • 19 AugThe same individual is legal representative of two other companies, formed in 2025 and 2026 at the same address (trading in agricultural products; logistics services). The company named as beneficiary on the proforma invoice was formed in March 2026 at the same address, with a different legal representative.Route: National Business Registration Portal; commercial database drawing on registration data (printouts)
  • 20 AugRegistered address visited. A serviced-office floor whose directory lists more than sixty companies. Reception confirmed that the supplier and the beneficiary company both use a package providing a registered address and mail handling; neither has staff on site.Route: site visit (two investigators; photographs)
  • 21 AugThe factory identified and visited. Signage partly visible in the video-call screenshots, and the photographs on the supplier's website, match the plant of a furniture exporter established for more than fifteen years in an industrial park in the north of the city (formerly Binh Duong Province). Its administration manager stated that the company has no relationship with the supplier, has not authorised the use of its images and receives buyers only through its own sales office. The website photographs are the same as those in the plant's own brochure.Route: site visit and interview (two investigators; notes; brochure obtained)
  • 24 AugExport record checked. United States import records show no shipment with the supplier as shipper since its formation. The plant's owner appears as shipper on several hundred bills of lading over the past five years.Route: commercial trade-data service compiling United States bills of lading (extract attached)
  • 25 AugThe supplier is not on the membership lists of the two wood and furniture industry associations in the south. Two exporters contacted by telephone had not heard of it.Route: association membership lists (public); telephone enquiries (notes)
  • 26 AugThe platform listing examined. The account was opened in January 2026. By the platform's own description, the “verified” badge shows that a business licence was checked, not that premises were inspected.Route: open sources (dated captures)
Photos 1–2: the serviced-office floor and its directory board (20 August 2026) / Photos 3–5: the plant's gate, signboard and the matching view from the video call (21 August) / Capture: platform listing (26 August)

Part 2Analysis

The supplier is a validly registered company. Nothing found shows that it makes, or has ever shipped, furniture. It was formed eight months ago with capital equal to about a quarter of the order; its registered address is a mail-handling service; the factory it presented belongs to an unrelated exporter which disowns it; it has no export record; and the deposit is directed to the account of a different company, formed five months ago at the same address. Each of these can have an innocent explanation taken alone: trading companies exist, and they subcontract. But the supplier presented itself as the manufacturer, and the combination is the pattern seen in advance-payment fraud.

A common pattern in this type of matter
Vietnam's company registry is open and quick to check: the enterprise code, legal representative, address, capital and status can be seen free of charge. It does not show whether a company has a factory. A licence, a tax code and a platform badge are therefore easy to present and prove little. What separates a manufacturer from a shell is found on the ground and in the trade record: who is at the registered address, whose name is on the factory gate, who appears as shipper on past bills of lading, and whether the account to be paid is in the contracting company's own name.

Part 3Assessment

On these facts a deposit paid by bank transfer would be unsecured and, if lost, difficult to recover: the supplier has no visible assets, and the money would go to a third party. Whether to proceed is for your client. If the client wants the product, the plant whose images were used is a real manufacturer with a long export record and can be approached through its own sales office. No approach was made to the supplier, so it should not be aware of this enquiry.

How your firm might use it
Advise that no payment be made to an account that is not in the contracting company's own name. If the client still wishes to deal with the supplier, replace the deposit with a letter of credit payable against shipping documents and an inspection certificate from an independent inspection company, and require the supplier to identify the plant that will make the goods so that it can be visited before production. If the client prefers to contract with the actual manufacturer, a short verification of that company can follow as a further step. Whether to report the listing to the platform is for your client.

Not establishedand why

Who is behind the supplier, and the role of the person who held the video calls: not pursued, since the instruction was not to approach the supplier.

How the factory footage was obtained: not known. The plant receives visiting buyers, and the footage may have been taken on such a visit.

The beneficiary account: banks do not confirm account details to third parties. The mismatch appears on the face of the proforma invoice.

Whether the supplier has an arrangement with some other workshop: none was found; it cannot be excluded.

Source documents attached

  • Registration extracts for the supplier, the two related companies and the beneficiary company (with translations)
  • Taxpayer lookup capture
  • Site visit records signed by two investigators; five photographs (with date, time and location); the plant's brochure
  • Extract of United States import records
  • Dated captures of the website and the platform listing
  • Chronology of the enquiry

This sample is fictional and bears no relation to any real person, organisation or matter. Its structure and level of detail are the same as in an actual report.

Sample H

CONFIDENTIAL

Asset Groundwork Report on a Judgment Debtor

Holdings on both sides of the border before registration of a foreign judgment | Malaysia and Singapore

This report is delivered to your firm in strict confidence and is for your firm's internal use only. It may not be copied, lent, translated or used for any other purpose, and may not be disclosed to anyone other than the instructing party and those properly engaged by them.

Matter number
TGI-G-2026-H (fictional)
Country
Malaysia (Johor); Singapore
Type of enquiry
Asset groundwork on a judgment debtor (registries, title searches, on-site confirmation)
Period
10 to 26 August 2026 (13 working days)
Date of report
28 August 2026
Carried out by
UIC Associates (Malaysia and Singapore); coordinated by TGI
What this report is for
Proceedings: registration and enforcement of a Hong Kong judgment in Malaysia and in Singapore
What it provides: where the debtor lives and works; his shareholdings and offices in both countries; who holds the family home; the dates of transfers made since the writ was served; insolvency and litigation status
Next step: the choice of where to register first and which assets to pursue, with counsel in each jurisdiction

Anticipated proceedingsRegistration of a foreign judgment in two jurisdictions

Your client, a trading company in Hong Kong, obtained judgment in the High Court of Hong Kong in April 2026 for HK$9.6 million against a Malaysian businessman on his personal guarantee of the debts of a Hong Kong subsidiary, now in liquidation. He lives in Johor and is understood to run his business from Singapore. Both Malaysia and Singapore provide for the registration of Hong Kong money judgments. Your firm needs to know what he holds on each side of the border, and in whose name, in order to decide where to begin.

Questions and findings

  • Residence → A detached house in a gated development in Iskandar Puteri, Johor. He leaves for Singapore early on working days
  • The house → Registered to Company A, his Malaysian holding company, since 18 February 2026; previously in his own name; charged to a bank
  • Malaysia: company interests → Director and 70% shareholder of Company A (his spouse holds 30%). Investment properties of RM 6.8 million in its latest accounts
  • Singapore: company interests → Director and 60% shareholder of Company B, a trading company. 40% was transferred to his brother on 9 March 2026
  • Insolvency and litigation → Not bankrupt in either country. One pending claim by a supplier against Company B in Singapore
  • Sequence → Writ served in November 2025; house transferred in February 2026; shares transferred in March 2026; judgment in April 2026

Part 1Fact

  • 10 AugInstructions and materials received: sealed copy of the judgment; the guarantee, which states the debtor's Malaysian identity card number and an address in Johor; correspondence giving the name and address of a company in Singapore; photographs.Source: materials supplied by your firm
  • 11 Aug[Malaysia] Company involvement searched under the identity card number. The debtor is a director and 70% shareholder of Company A, a private company whose business is investment holding; his spouse is the other director and holds 30%. Two charges are registered in favour of a bank. The accounts filed for 2025 show investment properties of RM 6.8 million and an amount due to directors of RM 2.1 million.Route: Companies Commission of Malaysia, company profile and filed accounts, with a commercial database drawing on registry data (obtained by UIC Associates)
  • 12 Aug[Malaysia] No bankruptcy order and no pending proceedings against the debtor.Route: Malaysian Department of Insolvency search under the identity card number (result attached)
  • 13–14 Aug[Malaysia] The Johor address visited: a detached house in a gated development in Iskandar Puteri. On both mornings the debtor left at about 06:40 in a Singapore-registered car, which is kept at the house overnight.Route: on-site observation (two investigators; photographs)
  • 17 Aug[Malaysia] The lot number of the house identified from the public cadastral map, and a title search made. The registered proprietor is Company A. The transfer from the debtor to Company A was registered on 18 February 2026 at a stated consideration of RM 3.2 million. An earlier charge to a bank remains on the title.Route: private title search at the Johor land office (search result attached)
  • 18 Aug[Singapore] Company B's business profile and register of members obtained. A private company incorporated in 2021 with paid-up capital of S$500,000, trading in industrial components. Directors: the debtor and one director resident in Singapore. Members: the debtor 60%, his brother 40%. The brother's shares were transferred from the debtor on 9 March 2026. No financial statements are on public file, the company being an exempt private company.Route: Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, business profile and register of members (obtained by UIC Associates)
  • 17–21 Aug[Singapore] Company B's office visited: a unit in an industrial building in the east of Singapore, with the company's name on the door and six to eight staff. The debtor was seen arriving on three of the five working days. The unit belongs to an unrelated landlord.Route: on-site observation (two investigators; photographs); Singapore Land Authority, property ownership information by address (obtained)
  • 19 Aug[Singapore] No bankruptcy application or order against the debtor. One claim pending in the State Courts, filed in June 2026 by a supplier against Company B for S$180,000.Route: Ministry of Law insolvency search; court cause book search (results attached)
  • 24–25 AugThe records from both countries set on one chronology against the Hong Kong proceedings.Route: comparison of the material from both sides (chronology attached)
Photos 1–3: the development's entrance, the house and the car (13 and 14 August 2026, Johor) / Photos 4–6: the industrial building, the unit door and the debtor arriving (18 and 20 August, Singapore)

Part 2Analysis

The debtor lives in Johor and works in Singapore. In his own name he now holds two things of value that the records show: 70% of Company A in Malaysia, and 60% of Company B in Singapore. The family home, which was his, has belonged to Company A since February 2026; he still holds it indirectly through his shares, behind the bank's charge. Part of the RM 2.1 million that Company A owes to its directors is presumably owed to him. Both transfers, of the house and of the 40% in Company B, were made after the writ was served and before judgment, within three weeks of each other.

A common pattern in this type of matter
Debtors with a foot in both countries typically live in Johor and earn in Singapore. Both company registries are open: profiles, shareholders and charges can be bought by anyone, and in Malaysia so can the filed accounts; both insolvency offices can be searched by identity number. Land in both countries is searched by title or address, not by owner's name, so the enquiry starts from the addresses and companies already known and works outwards. A Malaysian identity card number stays with a person for life and appears on guarantees, company filings and court papers, which is what ties the records together. Working both sides at once matters: a transfer on one side often has its counterpart on the other within weeks.

Part 3Assessment

There are assets to pursue on both sides. In Singapore, the debtor's 60% of Company B and any sums the company owes him; he is physically there on most working days. In Malaysia, his 70% of Company A, which holds the house and other investment property subject to the bank's charges, and his share of the directors' loan. The timing of the two transfers is a matter your firm may wish to put to counsel in each jurisdiction. Whether the conditions for registration are met, where to begin and which remedies to use are for your firm and that counsel.

How your firm might use it
Give counsel in each jurisdiction the registry extracts, the title search and the single chronology. In Singapore, consider seizure of the shares in Company B, attachment of debts due from the company to the debtor, and an examination of the debtor, who can be served at the office on a working day. In Malaysia, consider enforcement against the shares in Company A, a judgment debtor summons, and whether the February transfer of the house can be challenged. The individual properties behind the RM 6.8 million in Company A's accounts can be identified from the charge documents on the company's file, as a further step. A repeat of the registry searches shortly before each application will show whether anything else has moved.

Not establishedand why

Bank accounts: cannot be searched in either country. They are reached through examination of the debtor and attachment once the judgment is registered.

Other land in the debtor's own name: land cannot be searched by owner's name. None came to light from the addresses and companies known.

The owner of the car: vehicle records are not open to third parties in either country.

The consideration for the transfer of shares to the brother: not shown on the public record. It can be asked for in the examination of the debtor.

Source documents attached

  • Company A: company profile, filed accounts for 2025 and particulars of charges
  • Company B: business profile and register of members
  • Title search result for the house in Johor
  • Insolvency search results, Malaysia and Singapore; cause book search result
  • Observation logs signed by two investigators; six photographs (with date, time and location)
  • Single chronology: Hong Kong proceedings, Malaysia and Singapore

This sample is fictional and bears no relation to any real person, organisation or matter. Its structure and level of detail are the same as in an actual report.

Verify first. Decide after.

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