| Intro | Pakistani banker | ||
| Is |
Financial professional Banker |
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| From | Pakistan | ||
| Type | Finance | ||
| Gender | male | ||
| Birth | 13 July 1960, Karachi, Pakistan | ||
| Age: | 60 years | ||
| Star sign | Cancer | ||
| Education |
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Arif Masood Naqvi (born 13 July 1960 in Karachi, Pakistan) is a Pakistani-Kittitian businessman and convicted finance fraudster who was sentenced in 2019 for three years in the United Arab Emirates for financial fraud. Previously, he was arrested on the 5th of April 2019 in the UK on US fraud charges after allegedly misappropriating $230 million from a healthcare fund.
He founded The Abraaj Group, a private equity investor that operated in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Turkey, and Central Asia, in 2002.
In 2018, he was accused by investors of misappropriating funds, leading to the provisional liquidation of The Abraaj Group. The company is also under investigation by Dubai regulators.
Early life and education
Naqvi completed his early education from Karachi Grammar School and graduated from London School of Economics.
Career
Arif Naqvi began his career with Arthur Andersen in London and American Express in Karachi. 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. 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. Naqvi then sold off pieces of the company for a total of $173 million.
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.
Naqvi is known as a collector of art and for establishing a collection of Middle Eastern art. In 2018, art owned by Naqvi was sold through Christie’s for £2 million.
In April 2019, Naqvi was arrested in the U.K. and faces extradition to the U.S. on charges of inflating company assets and fund misappropriation. However, in early May 2019, he was granted bail by a London court, for a record sum of 15 million British pounds (US$20 million) but placed under what was effectively house arrest.
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.
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. In 2015, Naqvi was awarded with the BNP Paribas Grand Prix for Individual Philanthropy by BNP Paribas.
Naqvi is also a Founding Commissioner of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission (BSDC), alongside Paul Polman and Mo Ibrahim [1]