a multi-national technology company which had developed advanced election systems, voting machines included. Following the Panama Papers leak, it was revealed that from 2002 until 2010, De La Rue had secretly contracted New Delhi businessman Somendra Khosla to obtain contracts in exchange for a 15% commission. In 2003, the company acquired the Debden based banknote printing operations of the Bank of England. In 2003 and 2004 the company supplied banknotes to Iraq. The company was recognised by Hermann Simon as a role model for other small- to medium-sized businesses in his book Hidden Champions. The Highest Perfection, a history of De La Rue was published in 2011. Written by Peter Pugh for De La Rue, it covered the years 1712–2003. In August 2014, the company announced the appointment of Martin Sutherland (formerly of BAE Systems Applied Intelligence) as chief executive officer. In 2016, the Cash Handling division (Cash Processing Systems) was sold to Privet Capital. In December 2016, the company announced it had purchased the DuPont Authentication division. In March 2018, the company sold the paper business. De La Rue retained a 10% share in the new business, Portals International Limited. In April 2018, the company decided to appeal against the decision of the British government to manufacture passports in France. It subsequently decided against appealing. In October 2019 the company sold its Identity Solutions business to HID Global for £42m. On 26 July 2019, the Serious Fraud Office opened an investigation into De La Rue plc for suspected corruption in South Sudan. They later decided to close the case. Operations Banknotes De La Rue sells high-security paper and printing technology for over 69 national currencies. Security printing and papermaking De La Rue also produces a wide range of other secure documents, including: Bank cheques Driving licences Tax stamps Food Vouchers Past products Playing cards In 1843, De La Rue established its first overseas trade, as De La Rue's brother Paul travelled to Russia to advise on the making of playing cards. Thomas de la Rue's designs for playing cards are the basis for the modern standard design. The playing card business was sold to John Waddington in 1969. Postage stamps The company has also printed postage stamps for the United Kingdom and some of its colonies, for Italy and for the Confederate States of America. Some famous stamps such as the Cape of Good Hope triangulars were printed by