Abraaj founder offered businessman $20 million to buy influence with Sharifs: WSJ

Correspondence between Abraaj execs and Sharif aide uncovered by WSJ

Arif Naqvi, the founder of Abraaj Group, offered businessman Navaid Malik $20 million to secure Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif’s assistance in selling Abraaj’s stake in K-Electric Ltd, reported the Wall Street Journal.

In a 2015 email written to Naqvi from an Abraaj partner, Omar Lodhi, Malik says Shehbaz is “willing to give a strong endorsement” of the sale to Chinese bidders.

Lodhi writes in the email that Malik said it was "important for him to share every detail with the [Sharif] brothers and get their blessings as well as their instructions as to how this money should be distributed," such as "a portion to charity" or "a portion to the election fund kitty".



“This document is explosive in the wrong hands,” says Naqvi in an email to Lodhi when referring to the $20 million arrangement. He also wrote that Abraaj and K-Electric should not be named in the document and it should be kept “generic”.

"Noted," Mr. Lodhi responded.

Abraaj filed for provisional liquidation in June. The Dubai based private-equity firm had attracted many high profile investors and promised to make money by doing good. It included a fund that would invest in hospitals in developing African and Asian countries.

According to former executives and investors, the company moved investor funds into its own accounts.  At least $660 million of investor money was moved without the knowledge of most investors into bank accounts that forensic accountants call the Abraaj treasury, according to documents and people familiar with the situation.

More than $200 million of these funds were transferred into Naqvi’s personal accounts and those close to him.



"The allegations against me are entirely false and vehemently denied," Naqvi, 58-years-old, said in a written statement to The Wall Street Journal.

"I have neither misused nor misappropriated any Abraaj funds. There was nothing untoward about my requests for transfers of Abraaj Group funds to me or my family, or for my personal investments or obligations. In drawing down funds from Abraaj, I acted in accordance with the arrangements put in place by the Abraaj Group." All drawdowns were properly recorded and accounted for, he added.

This article originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal.