Reports suggest that Liquidators managing Dubai-based private equity firm, Abraaj Group’s bankruptcy have come to an estimation that Chief Executive Officer Arif Naqvi’s alleged theft has now cost the firm $385 million, an amount which is significantly more than what prosecutors claimed.
Arid Naqvi is one of six former Abraaj executives who face charges following the private equity’s firm’s collapse in 2018. Earlier, U.S. prosecutors stated that Naqvi stole more than $250 million. But in a new filing done yesterday, the liquidators have put the damages much higher, insisting Naqvi stole $385 million from 2009 to 2018 as he transferred money for his own use in more than 3,700 transactions.
The liquidators are trying to track the transactions and have asked a New York judge for approval to file subpoenas on 18 banks. The information will be utilized in a planned lawsuit in the Cayman Islands attempting to recoup funds to repay the firm’s investors and creditors.
Abraaj managed more than 40 private equity funds and assets of more than $14 billion until it disintegrated into the biggest failure for a private equity firm. Naqvi, who has dismissed any wrongdoing, is facing potential extradition to the U.S.
Another official, Mustafa Abdel-Wadood, a former managing partner, was arrested while on a college-shopping trip to the U.S. with his wife and son. He pleaded guilty and is expecting sentencing in September. Other defendants charged in New York are outside U.S. custody.
Abraaj Group, established in 2002, was the Middle East’s biggest private equity fund and one of the world’s most powerful emerging-market investors, with stakes in health care, clean energy, lending and real estate across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Turkey.
Dubai’s financial regulator has fined Abraaj $315 million for misleading investors and misappropriating their funds.
