Four people with knowledge of the inquiries, each citing comments by senior officials, said those investigations were linked to a larger, secretive inquiry in which officials had detained or questioned a son and associates of Mr. Zhou.
The application process has been criticised in a recent Senate inquiry as secretive and weak, since most of the process is not made public, where it could be scrutinised.
Now, after a secretive and far-reaching inquiry by US investigators into links between Venezuelan government officials and Colombian drugs cartels, Palmeri, 46, will be spending at least 20 years in prison.
Current and former employees say the military's hierarchical and secretive culture dampens the freewheeling inquiry needed for scientific research to flourish.
David Cameron promised one during his 2010 election campaign, but has punted the inquiry into the secretive intelligence and security committee.
He wants the Swiss government, which is preparing to report the findings of a six-month inquiry into the secretive industry, to legislate to make Swiss parent companies "civilly and criminally liable" for human rights violations and environmental crimes abroad.
The process around the approval of BP's drilling has been criticised in a Senate inquiry for being secretive and weak, with federal government approval devolved to NOPSEMA, an agency that specifically deals with offshore oil and gas applications.
Then various people in buildings around Whitehall appeared to get their hands on the plan, and what was eventually proposed was a secretive review rather than an inquiry, with no victim participation, and in which ministers and officials would be able to give evidence behind closed doors.
A 1996 law drafted largely by private-sector professionals from that secretive trade forbids disclosure of banking secrets to aid police inquiries; they can be revealed only after a trial has started.
Moreover, in this compromised shape, the inquiry will not question the rationale for parallel, secretive justice systems, designed to privilege religious over secular practices, merely ponder how to ensure their "best practice".
