China, France
Top French China "fixer" Gérard Houa prepares for life without HNA

The Corporate Intelligence Village Voice
KCS plays football, Straife turns to the Caucasus, Gourdault-Montagne stays in Beijing

Appointments, financial results, new contracts, in London, Houston, Paris and Beijing... every week, we report on the events big and small that matter in the global corporate intelligence community.

London KCS gets in the game with new football investigations' unit

Houston Straife poaches Croissant as it prospects in Caucasus

Paris/Beijing Diplomat consultant Gourdault-Montagne extends China stay

China, France
Ex-Airbus China agent Gerard Houa off French taxman's hook

In a decision dated 2 February, the Paris Court of Appeal handed down a harsh ruling against the tax authorities' investigation, which was attempting to target the former sales agent of Airbus Group and Veolia in China.

China, France
DRSD wants higher staff skills to meet Chinese threat

DRSD director Eric Bucquet wants more flexibility when it comes to recruitment, so to efficiently prevent China's attempts to spy on the French military.

China
Weapons group Poly teams with satellite services player Unistrong

Unistrong, headed by Guo Xinping, is a supplier to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Ministry of Public Security, or Gonganbu.

China
Cybersecurity firm Winicssec eyes IPO

Winicssec, a cybersecurity firm headed by a former Huawei employee, is working with China's Ministry of Public Security to set security standards at industrial sites.

China
Blacklisted Luokung maintains defence ties through Superengine subsidiary

Superengine, which was acquired by Luokung in 2018, is headed by Zhang Dongpu, a former executive at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).

China
Geochip rises to challenge US leaders in 5G chip race

Geochip, founded by two former Qualcomm employees, plans to ramp up development of its radio frequency chips and apply them to drone technology.

China
GrandHonor gets boost from Qingdao state funds

GrandHonor, a big data company founded by a former Huawei employee, hopes to harness its technology for smart cities and facial recognition projects.

China
Weblink takes up encryption to keep in step with Xi's military-civil fusion strategy

The cryptography company Weblink has ties to the Strategic Support Force, which is responsible for cyber and space operations.

China, Europe, United States
Chinese blind spots in global Airbus anti-corruption probe

Britain's SFO and its French equivalent, the PNF, split the regions targeted in the Airbus corruption investigation between them. But Chinese contracts drew the attention of both the PNF and the DoJ.

United Kingdom
Airbus makes head start on SFO probe

Under investigation by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the European aeronautical company is receiving help to carry out its own internal investigation.

Spotlight | Europe
Enders takes hatchet to Airbus' sales ops

Caught up in a row over commission with one of its former sales agents in China, Airbus is determined not to find itself in the same situation in the future. To protect the European aircraft and defence company going forward, [.

Hong Kong
Dilsat Atus, Airbus' Uighur go-between

According to our sources, Dilsat Atus, a Chinese Uighur businessman, is now Airbus' main consultant on sales to China. Atus worked for many years with two consultants now taking legal action against the company.

France
EDF's relations with DGSE and DCRI

All of France's multinationals have dealings with the French intelligence services - but they don't often say it in so many words.