LONDON: Pakistani emerging markets business magnate and the Abraaj Group founder Arif Naqvi has strongly maintained his innocence in relation to the US charges framed against him.A statement issued by his spokesman here said that Arif Naqvi maintained his full innocence and had done nothing wrong. “Mr Naqvi maintains his innocence, and he fully expects to be cleared of any charges. For almost a year since the commencement of the provisional liquidations, he has been working tirelessly to maximise returns for Abraaj’s creditors,” the statement issued on behalf of Naqvi said.Scotland Yard detained Arif Naqvi at Heathrow airport on the request of American authorities over “alleged fraud” but made it clear that there is no case in the UK where he lives permanently. The arrest came after the founder of the collapsed Dubai-based private-equity firm The Abraaj Group was charged with fraud and conspiracy in New York in relation to the collapse of the equity firm he headed.Meanwhile, Arif Naqvi defended himself in a rare interview published after his arrest but done few days before the latest development.Speaking to The National, Naqvi said that he was confident the issues around the Abraaj liquidation will be resolved. He said he was working with liquidators to “solve their issues” as they tried to assess if anything that had happened was “not normal”.Naqvi said that questions about the state of the company — which at its peak managed more than $14 billion in assets — were for provisional liquidators to answer.“Generally speaking, people who know me and who are involved with the Abraaj estate are being very sensible. That’s why we appointed JPLs [joint provisional liquidators] for them to examine the estate and figure out if anything needs to be done, did anything happen that was not normal and — if so — what steps they should take”. “I’m working with JPLs to solve their issues.”
04-15-2019, 12:10 PM
Arif Naqvi denies wrongdoing
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