Gul Meena Rehman is the fourth winner of the Martin Kenney Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Study of Financial Investigation.

Overcoming a complex series of challenges, anti-money laundering manager Gul Meena Rehman has won a prestigious award recognising her achievement as a top financial investigation student. 

Gul Meena, 40, is the fourth annual winner of the Martin Kenney Award (for Outstanding Contribution to the Study of Financial Investigation), which is presented to one outstanding student each year studying an MSc in Financial Investigation at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). 

Gul Meena was awarded a distinction for her Masters dissertation, completing her project whilst working full-time and despite undergoing a premature birth following an unexpected pregnancy (after being told she couldn’t have any more children), leaving her with significant health problems.

The Martin Kenney Award is sponsored by Martin Kenney, Head of Firm at British Virgin Islands law firm Martin Kenney & Co (MKS), a specialist anti-fraud and asset recovery lawyer who is also a Visiting Professor at UCLan’s School of Law & Policing.

Gul Meena Rehman said she was delighted with her award:

“I’m grateful and honoured to have won such a prestigious award. Martin Kenney is one of the world’s leading asset recovery lawyers. To be presented with the award by someone that I admire and look up to makes it all the more special.

“I really enjoyed getting to grips with my Masters at UCLan, in what were sometimes quite difficult circumstances. I still feel emotional when I think about it now. Being officially recognised by the best in the industry makes the sacrifices during the past 18 months a bit easier.

“None of this would have been possible without the excellent support of the staff at UCLan, and in particular the generous contributions of world-class experts like Martin Kenney, who share their knowledge and expertise to develop a new generation of financial investigators.

“The knowledge and experience I have gained at UCLan will stand me in good stead as I move to the next stage of my career.”

Martin Kenney said he was proud to present Gul Meena with this year’s award:

“I extend our whole team’s congratulations to Gul Meena. She is an outstanding example of determination and perseverance in the face of adversity. Her dedication to her work and study is a lesson for us all, particularly given the difficult circumstances she’s had to overcome. We’re very proud that she’s won this year’s award and have no doubt she will excel in her field in the years ahead.

“The Financial Investigation MSc at UCLan has also more than proved its worth as an extremely valuable resource for those wishing to undertake a career in compliance, investigation or asset recovery work. In fact, it’s been so good we’ve employed two students direct from the course ourselves in previous years.

“With students of the calibre of Gul Meena and those we’ve employed graduating each year, we’re sure it will continue to go from strength to strength.”

Janet McClements, the Financial Investigation MSc course leader at UCLan, said:

“Gul has been a credit to herself and her family. She has navigated some significant personal hurdles to succeed and pass her Masters.

“In this increasingly regulated financial world, we are seeing an increasing demand from employers for those with the skills and knowledge that our course brings.

“My aim is to see more UCLAN undergraduates joining this postgraduate course, which has already proven to be very popular with our foreign students, many who come from far and wide to study with us.

“Given my own policing background as an experienced fraud and financial investigator, I have sought to combine academia and practitioner-based input to prepare our graduates for the workplace. Gul is a prime example of what hard work here can achieve.”

Background

Gul Meena Rehman, 40, lives in Sale, Manchester, with Mohammad her husband, their teenage daughter Eshal, and baby son Yahya. She works as an Assistant Anti-Money Laundering Manager for a major financial institution.

She achieved a distinction in her Masters in Financial Investigation at UCLan, which she studied while working full-time and then becoming unexpectedly pregnant, having previously been told she couldn’t have any more children. 

She endured a complicated pregnancy and her son was born prematurely, leading to health complications for both mother and baby. Despite this, Gul Meena was back completing her dissertation within weeks of the birth.

“It was the most complicated pregnancy. My son was then born prematurely in June, and I was back completing my dissertation only a short number of weeks later in August.”

“I’m so proud of my accomplishments and delighted I managed to pull it all together and get to the finish line,” Gul Meena said.

Gul Meena achieved her academic success after losing her dad, one of her biggest supporters, who tragically died in a car accident back in Pakistan in 2019.

She praised the high standard of lecturing on the postgraduate courses at UCLan’s School of Law and Policing, saying that the combination of academic excellence and practical experience among staff added huge value for students.

Interviews

  • Read an interview with Gul Meena Rehman here.
  • Listen to a podcast interview with Gul Meena Rehman here.

Award background

Presented in conjunction with the School of Law & Policing at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), the Martin Kenney Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Study of Financial Investigation is awarded annually to an outstanding graduate from the UCLan MSc Financial Investigation course.

The award was established in 2021 when British Virgin Islands-based investigative law firm, Martin Kenney & Co (MKS) – led by world-renowned asset recovery lawyer, Martin Kenney – partnered with UCLan’s School of Law & Policing.

In summer 2022, Martin Kenney was appointed a Visiting Professor to the UCLan School of Law & Policing.