Assurance, Expert Panel/Witness & Accountability

Download Prizma’s Brochure

Our key services, exemplified further below, include the following:

Expert Witness in ISDS/ICSID Case: Gold Reserve v. Venezuela

White & Case, representing the Claimant, engaged Prizma’s team members to provide expert witness services in an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) related to Social License to Operate (SLO); Free, Prior, Informed Consent (FPIC); Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA); Resettlement and Community Development; IFC Performance Standards and other matters. The three-judge tribunal panel convened under the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington DC awarded Gold Reserve, the claimant, $760 million.

Independent Third-Party Assurance for Lundin Mining Corp.

Prizma was engaged by LMC, a diversified Canadian base metals mining company with operations in Brazil, Chile, Portugal, Sweden and the USA, to provide independent third-party assurance services. As part of this engagement, Prizma conducted site visits to LMC’s operations in Portugal and Chile, and provided moderate-level assurance for key performance indicators related to safety, water, energy, greenhouse gases, and stakeholder engagement. Prizma is a licensed assurance service provider for the AA1000 Assurance Standard, and its team includes several GRI-certified reporters.

Compliance Experts and Mediators for Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAM)

Prizma’s Director, Mehrdad Nazari, was formerly a Principal Environmental Specialist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and a Board-appointed IAM Director at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Here, he developed the new Terms of Reference of the IAM and processed 19 complaints resulting in two compliance investigations and one dispute resolution (mediation) related to five DFC-supported projects in Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Türkiye. Previously, he also served as an expert panelist to compliance investigations by IFC/MIGA’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO). He also serves on the Independent Expert Rosters of the Independent Redress Mechanism (IRM) of the Green Climate Fund, and the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (MICI) of the Inter-American Development Bank Group.

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