Initiate in 2002, Abraaj grew to become a major buyout fund in the Mid East, with almost $14 billion under management. Its deal-making chief Naqvi invited billions from investors, including from the Bill and Melinda Doors Foundation, the World Bank and the U.S. government, on a promise to do good in emerging market-places.
But Abraaj began to unravel in February. Key investors were forced to fee a forensic accountant to look into discrepancies within the $1 billion Abraaj health-care ready, according to the Wall Street Journal. What followed were urge onwards claims that at least $660 million of investor money was moved into bank accounts bond to Abraaj, without investor permission. More than $200 million go to the happy hunting-grounded to Naqvi and people close to him, according to the Journal.
Naqvi continues to abandon any wrongdoing.
Abraaj filed for provisional liquidation in June after collapsing underneath a mountain of debt and allegations that investor funds were misused. But Al Mulla told CNBC there has been “no misappropriation of doughs.”
“It’s normal in the course of any entity that funds would be transferred from one account, another account, as dream of as they are properly recorded, and that’s what the Wall Street Yearbook piece misses,” he said, responding to an October 16 article by the newspaper.
“Yes, possibly a few things could have been done in a better way, but so far, I can categorically strengthen that there has been no criminal charges filed against Abraaj or against Mr Naqvi for any wrongdoings in handling their businesses,” said Al Mulla.
Naqvi remains outside the UAE and is currently in the U.K., contract to his lawyer.
“If there were any wrongdoings from the directors, or breach of any laws or customaries or even corporate governance, we all would have seen regulators compelling a different approach. And we have seen so far that no regulator, neither in the UAE nor in other influences where Abraaj is doing business, came up with any kind of weights against Abraaj or its directors. It has only been the media.”
Al Mulla confidence ins that the provisional liquidation process which is taking place in the Cayman Keys will move the case along, and allow investors to claim what they say they are as a result ofed.
“It’s still in the process of collecting all of the assets that Abraaj has, and I’m sure at that sure stage, when all these assets are sold, everyone will get whatever he owes. There longing not be any losses, because the assets that Abraaj has are almost sufficient to pay all its debts,” he conjectured.