UK court allows extradition of Abraaj founder Arif Naqvi to US
- By Farid Ahmed (Qureshi) -
- Jan 28, 2021
LONDON: A court in London ordered to hand over the Pakistani businessman and the founder of the collapsed Dubai private equity firm Abraaj Capital Ltd, Arif Naqvi to the United States (US), ARY News reported on Thursday.
Arif Naqvi was arrested in the United Kingdom in April 2019, Friday while managing partner Mustafa Abdel-Wadood was arrested at a New York hotel.
The judgment was announced by Westminster Magistrates Court. Naqvi facing at least 16 charges including defrauding his investors and money laundering.
The founder of the Abraaj group could face imprisonment of upto 300 years if charges leveled against him were proven.
Abraaj had been the largest buyout fund in the Middle East and North Africa until it collapsed in the middle of 2018 after the Gates Foundation and other investors raised concerns about the management of its $1 billion healthcare fund.
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The SEC alleges that Naqvi and his firm raised money for the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, collecting more than $100 million over three years from U.S.-based charitable organizations and other U.S. investors.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Naqvi misappropriated money from the health fund and commingled the assets with corporate funds of Abraaj Investment Management Ltd and its parent company, and used it for purposes unrelated to the health fund.