Arif Naqvi

Arif Masood Naqvi (born 13 July 1960) is a Pakistani businessman, who was the founder and chief executive of the Dubai-based private equity firm, The Abraaj Group and Aman Foundation. The Abraaj Group was founded in 2002 and operated in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Turkey and Central Asia, and is currently in liquidation due to accusations of fraud.

Arif Masood Naqvi
Naqvi in 2008
Born
Arif Masood Naqvi

(1960-07-13) 13 July 1960
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
CitizenshipPakistan
Saint Kitts and Nevis[1]
EducationKarachi Grammar School
Alma materLondon School of Economics
OccupationBusiness

Early life and education

Naqvi was born in a business family. His father was a small plastics manufacturing company owner.[2] He completed his early education from Karachi Grammar School and graduated from London School of Economics.[3]

Career

Arif Naqvi began his career with Arthur Andersen in London and American Express in Karachi.[4] In the early 1990s, he joined the Olayan Group in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom's largest trading company. In 1994 he started an investment firm in Dubai called Cupola with $50,000 of his own savings.[5] In 1999, Naqvi purchased Inchcape Middle East, for $102 million, with $4.1 million in equity, making it the MENA region's first leveraged buyout.[6] Naqvi then sold off pieces of the company for a total of $173 million.[7]

In 2002, Naqvi founded Abraaj Capital, and in 2012 the company merged with Aureos Capital to become The Abraaj Group. As of March 2018, Arif Naqvi has stepped down as CEO of The Abraaj Group, as the company has become the subject of multiple investigations regarding its fund management practices.[8]

Naqvi is known as a collector of art and for establishing a collection of Middle Eastern art.[9] In 2018, art owned by Naqvi was sold through Christie's for £2 million.[10]

In September 2017, "while Arif was in New York, the employee broke ranks and sent an anonymous email to investors"…"about years of wrongdoing at Abraaj".[11][12]

In January 2018, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and three other investors in Naqvi's Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund recruited forensic accountants to investigate where their money had gone.[13][14]

In February 2018, World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation wanted to know why over $200 million in cash was sitting with the fund, and not invested.[15]

In February 2018, Naqvi was accused by Andrew Farnum[11] at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other investors of misappropriating funds, leading to the provisional liquidation of The Abraaj Group.[13] The company also came under investigation by regulators in Dubai.[16][17]

Also in October 2018, the Wall Street Journal published an article that Abraaj Group allegedly paid US$20 million to Pakistani businessman, Navaid Malik, for his assistance in securing cooperation of the Sharif brothers for the sale of its investment in Pakistan's utility, Karachi Electric.[18]

On 5 April 2019, Naqvi was arrested by authorities in the United Kingdom after he was charged by the United States Department of Justice with fraud, misleading investors and misappropriating $230 million from Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund.[19][20][21] In early May 2019, Naqvi was granted bail by a London court pending a hearing for his extradition to the United States, with restrictions including a record £15 million GBP (US$20 million) surety and other conditions amounting to effective house arrest.[22]

In July 2019, two Abraaj entities were fined US$315 million by the Dubai Financial Services Authority and Naqvi was sentenced to three years imprisonment in absentia in the United Arab Emirates on charges of financial fraud.[23][24][25]

In November 2021, High Court Judge Philippa Whipple adjourned the matter Naqvi extradition until a point of law was resolved in another similar high-profile extradition case - that of Nirav Modi, an Indian diamond tycoon.[26]

In December 2022, the 'point of law' appeal, was denied and the High Court also refused permission for Modi, to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and he was ordered to pay associated legal costs of £150,247, for the application.[27]

In January 2022, the Dubai Financial Services Authority personally fined Naqvi $135.6 million for his role in the collapse of Abraaj.[28]

In July 2022, the Financial Times revealed in its article results of its investigation that Abraaj founder Arif Naqvi's Cayman Islands-incorporated company Wootton Cricket Ltd bankrolled Pakistan's political party, Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which is led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan during 2013, after receiving funds from companies and individuals including at least £2 million in April 2013 from Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al-Nahyan, a United Arab Emirates government minister who is also a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and Chairman of Pakistan's Bank Alfalah.[29] Naqvi was under UK house arrest and was electronically tagged while on £15 million bail as he fought extradition from the UK to the US.

On 8 March 2023, Naqvi lost his challenge to extradition from London to the United States, as a UK High Court Judge refused Naqvi permission to bring a judicial review against the 2021 approval of his extradition to the United States. This means that the extradition order authorized by the then UK Home Secretary Priti Patel will be executed, and Naqvi will be sent to a US prison to undergo his trial on fraud allegations by US authorities. [30][31][32][33][34]

Philanthropy

In 2008, Naqvi and his family established the Aman Foundation, a local, not-for-profit trust in Pakistan, focusing on health, nutrition and education.[35]

Awards

In 2007, Naqvi was granted the Sitara-i-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan, in recognition of his outstanding service in the field of public services.[36] In 2015, Naqvi was awarded with the BNP Paribas Grand Prix for Individual Philanthropy by BNP Paribas.[37]

Naqvi is a founding commissioner of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission (BSDC), alongside Paul Polman and Mo Ibrahim.[38]

Further reading
  • Arif Naqvi v. Turkish Airlines, Inc., No. Civ.A.14-1066, F. Supp. 3d, 2015 WL 7575198, at *2 (D.D.C. Feb. 23, 2015)[39]
  • "The outsider: how race and politics spelled the end for Abraaj". The Express Tribune. 10 July 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2023. Brian Brivati interview

References
  1. "Former Abraaj CEO Denied Bail After Being Called Flight Risk". Bloomberg. 26 April 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  2. Tirmizi, Farooq (5 November 2018). "The heir to Agha Hasan Abedi". Profit by Pakistan Today.
  3. "Arif Naqvi". www.theamanfoundation.org.
  4. "A financial fairytale: how one man fooled the global elite". the Guardian. 14 July 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  5. MacBride, Elizabeth (23 November 2015). "The Story Behind Abraaj Group's Stunning Rise In Global Private Equity". Forbes. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  6. Hamdan, Sara (27 April 2011). "Mideast Private Equity Pioneer Looks Beyond the Unrest". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  7. Tirmizi, Farooq (5 November 2018). "The heir to Agha Hasan Abedi". Pakistan Today. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  8. Kane, Frank (31 May 2018). "Dubai should get a grip on Abraaj before somebody else does". Arab News. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  9. Gleadell, Colin (30 October 2018). "What the sale of one man's multi-million dollar collection tells us about Middle Eastern art today". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  10. Gleadell, Colin (15 October 2019). "Twenty pieces of art belonging to controversial banker for sale at up to £1.6m". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  11. Primack, Dan (29 November 2021). "Private equity's biggest Ponzi scheme". Axios. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  12. Getlen, Larry (21 August 2021). "How Bill Gates was wrongly'robbed' of $100 million by a Pakistani con man". Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  13. Alloway, Tracy; Nair, Dinesh; Martin, Matthew (14 June 2018). "The Downfall of Dubai's Star Investor". Bloomberg Businessweek.
  14. Louch, William; Ballard, Ed; Clark, Simon. "Abraaj Investors Hire Auditor to Trace Money". WSJ. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  15. Thomas, Landon Jr (2 February 2018). "Leading Private Equity Firm Accused of Misusing Funds". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  16. Arnold, Tom; Cornwell, Alexander (4 July 2018). "Dubai regulator probes Abraaj over alleged mismanagement". Reuters. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  17. Warde, Ibrahim (November 2019). "A firm too good to be true, Billion-dollar debts, family pay-offs". Le Monde diplomatique.
  18. Clark, Simon (16 October 2018). "Private-Equity Firm Abraaj Raised Billions Pledging to Do Good—Then It Fell Apart". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  19. "Arif M. Naqvi and Abraaj Investment Management Limited (Release No. LR-24449; Apr. 11, 2019)". sec.gov. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  20. "SEC Amended Complaint: Arif M. Naqvi and Abraaj Investment Management Limited" (PDF). sec.gov. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  21. "Abraaj executives facing criminal charges in US". PitchBook.com.
  22. Wiggins, Kaye (3 May 2019). "Former CEO Gets Record $20 Million Bail". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  23. "Abraaj founder sentenced to 3 years in prison by UAE court: report". DAWN.COM. 9 August 2019.
  24. Decision notice
  25. Decision notice
  26. Shah, Murtaza Ali (13 November 2021). "UK judge delays Arif Naqvi's extradition to US". The News International (Pakistan). Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  27. "Fugitive Nirav Modi loses bid to appeal against extradition to India in UK Supreme Court - Times of India". The Times of India. 15 December 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  28. "Abraaj's Naqvi fined $135.6 Million Over Firm's Collapse". Bloomberg. 27 January 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  29. Clark, Simon (28 July 2022). "The strange case of the cricket match that helped fund Imran Khan's political rise". The Financial Times. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  30. "BBC Two - Billion Dollar Downfall: The Dealmaker". BBC. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  31. "Arif Naqvi | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  32. Blackburn, Tom (11 January 2023). "The spectacular rise and fall of private equity tycoon Arif Naqvi". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  33. Tobin, Sam (8 March 2023). "Abraaj founder loses challenge to U.S. extradition on fraud charges". Reuters. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  34. "Abraaj founder fails in final attempt to prevent extradition to the US". Financial Times. 8 March 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  35. "Aman Foundation | Transforming Lives |". Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  36. "President of Pakistan confers Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam on Al Abbar". Emirates News Agency. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  37. Bladd, Joanne (29 June 2015). "Dubai entrepreneur Arif Naqvi wins philanthropy award". PhilanthropyAge.
  38. "Commissioners | Business & Sustainable Development Commission".
  39. "CIVIL ACTION Plaintiff - Eastern District of Pennsylvania" (PDF). Retrieved 6 August 2023.

Sources
  • Simon Clark and Will Louch, The Key Man: The True Story of How the Global Elite Was Duped by a Capitalist Fairy, Harper Business (2021) ISBN 978-0-06-299621-3 - The story of Pakistani ex-CEO, Arif Naqvi
  • Brian Brivati, Icarus: The Life and Death of the Abraaj Group, Biteback Publishing (2021), ISBN 978-1785907180
  • Brivati, Brian (2021). Arif Naqvi's Abraaj Group & the Geopolitics of Karachi Electric. Vanguard Books. ISBN 978-969-402-642-8.
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