Is Arif Naqvi an amoral conman who managed to defraud the world’s financial and corporate elite, or a well-meaning, if naïve, philanthropist who got caught in the middle of geopolitical rivals? Two new books attempt to shade light on the controversy.
The book that is getting most of the attention subscribes to the former view. The Key Man: How the Global Elite was Duped by a Capitalist Fairy Tale paints Naqvi, a Pakistani-born and Dubai-based private equity financier, as a brilliant and charismatic fraudster who preyed on the good intentions of would-be impact investors.
According to this account by Wall Street Journal reporters Simon Clark and Will Louch, the silver-tongued Naqvi sold well-meaning billionaires a great, if fabricated, story. They could make substantial profits and do good by investing in emerging market ventures that created jobs, improved social conditions and eased political tensions.
Friends in high places
Among those persuaded by his pitch were the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, members of the Obama administration and countless well-heeled western capitalists drawn to the idea of feel-good investing with social impact.
The problem, alleged the authors, was that it was all a scam. Investors’ money was mixed up with the funds of Naqvi’s own Abraaj Group, a private equity operation in Dubai, and used to bankroll the founder’s increasingly lavish lifestyle.
“Arif drew on the acting and debating skills he developed from school onward to speak with conviction at hundreds of financial conferences staged in the ballrooms of luxury hotels around the world,’ the authors write. “He flew from city to city in his Gulfstream jet with a personalised tail number… and sailed on yachts from port to port to meet new investors who could help increase his fortune.”
Then the wheels came off
But after about a decade of extracting money from investors, the wheels started to come off. Big projected profits failed to materialise, his lifestyle was getting harder to finance and his staff and suppliers were not getting paid, Clark and Louch write.
Questions started to be asked and niggly details — once overlooked by those bowled over by Naqvi’s charm — started to be examined. The Gates Foundation noticed accounting discrepancies in a health care fund it had invested in.
Then it all started to fall apart. Arif Naqvi, a man once touted as a potential future leader of Pakistan, was cornered. In 2019, he was arrested on charges of fraud and racketeering at London’s Heathrow airport. A British judge later approved his extradition to the US, where he faces up to 291 years in jail if found guilty.
The Key Man is a well told tale, as much a character study as a story of fraud, although it should be noted that this is not the only take on the Arif Naqvi case.
More misunderstood than monstrous?
A separate book, also just released, paints a much less damning picture of Naqvi and the Abraaj Group. Icarus: The Life and Death of the Abraaj Group by British historian Dr Brian Brivati, argues Naqvi was more misunderstood than monstrous.
Brivati writes, in direct opposition to the Clark and Louch version, that despite the charges of conspiring to commit fraud, racketeering, money laundering and theft, audits have not revealed that any money actually went missing from the Abraaj Group and it could have easily been rescued with a restructuring.
“The underlying funds themselves and portfolio companies seemed to be doing just fine and in fact continue to do just fine in the main, now under the stewardship of a slew of US and UK private equity firms,” Brivati writes.
This second book, based on interviews with the man himself, argues that Naqvi did set out to make a positive change. But he was more guilty of vain self-glory (the Icarus reference) than the architect of a vast criminal conspiracy.
Brivati also believes that Naqvi was a victim of geopolitical rivalry between Washington and Beijing over control of the giant Pakistan utility Karachi Electric, which in 2016 was about to be sold to Chinese interests.
Whichever depiction of Arif Naqvi you choose to believe, this is a fascinating tale and one that looks to have much further to run.
PREVIOUSLY ON TEBI
Book-to-market: Is its explanatory power declining?
Why young investors should embrace EBI
Which country will outperform next is irrelevant
Tactical asset allocation vs static indexing: Who wins?
The Great Wealth Transfer: Are you ready for it?
If I can give up meat, you can too
Why aren’t women more involved in household financial decisions?
How do bad advisers manage their own money?
OUR STRATEGIC PARTNERS
Content such as this would not be possible without the support of our strategic partners, to whom we are very grateful.
TEBI’s principal partner is Sparrows Capital, which manages assets for family offices and institutions and also provides model portfolios to advice firms. We also have a strategic partner in Ireland — PFP Financial Services, a financial planning firm in Dublin.
We are currently seeking partnerships in North America and Australasia with firms that share our evidence-based and client-focused philosophy. If you’re interested in finding out more, do get in touch.
© The Evidence-Based Investor MMXXI
Robin is a journalist and campaigner for positive change in global investing. He runs Regis Media, a niche provider of content marketing for financial advice firms with an evidence-based investment philosophy. He also works as a consultant to other disruptive firms in the investing sector.
