Liquidators for the insolvent private equity firm, Abraaj, have accused its founder and former chief executive of embezzling US$385 million from the company.
The alleged sum is considerably higher than the $250 million stated by US prosecutors in court papers in 2019.
In a new filing this month, the liquidators allege that Arif Naqvi took money from the company for his own personal use in more than 3,700 transactions between 2009 and 2018.
The liquidators are planning a legal action in the Cayman Islands to recover funds to pay creditors and investors and have asked a New York judge for permission to serve subpoenas to 18 US banks.
The Dubai-based Abraaj Group collapsed in June 2018. At the time it was the region’s biggest private equity firm. Naqvi was arrested in the UK in April 2019 and was later bailed for a record sum of $20 million and has since been effectively under house arrest in the UK fighting extradition to the US.
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