Pakistani tycoon Arif Naqvi invited cricket legend Imran Khan, hundreds of bankers, attorneys, and investors to his walled country house in the Oxfordshire village of Wootton, according to the financial times. The host was the Abraaj Group’s founder, who founded the company in Dubai. At the time, this private equity company was one of the biggest ones working in emerging countries, with billions of dollars under management.
An invitation to the gathering was written by Naqvi. According to the invitation, each visitor was required to pay between £2,000 and £2,500 in order to attend, with the money going to unnamed “philanthropic causes.”
According to Simon Clark from Financial Times, every summer charity events of this nature are held all across the UK. The fact that a Pakistani political party was the final beneficiary makes it unusual. The payments were paid to Wootton Cricket Ltd, which, despite its name, was actually a Cayman Islands-incorporated business owned by Naqvi.
Khan’s political organization, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, utilized the funds to for its operations.
Companies and private investors poured money into Wootton Cricket, including at least £2 million from a minister of the government of the United Arab Emirates who is also a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi.
Pakistan forbids foreign nationals and businesses from funding political parties, but Abraaj’s emails and internal documents obtained by the Financial Times, including a bank statement for a Wootton Cricket account in the UAE for the months of February 28 and May 30, 2013, show that both businesses and foreigners, as well as Pakistani citizens, sent millions of dollars to Wootton Cricket — before money was transferred from the account to Pakistan for the PTI.
According to Wootton Cricket’s bank statement claimed by financial times, the account’s prior balance of $5,431 was increased by $1.3 million on March 14, 2013, thanks to Abraaj Investment Management Ltd. A PTI bank account in Pakistan received a direct transfer of $1.3 million from the account later that day.
According to the bank statement and a copy of the Swift transfer information, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al-Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, government minister, and chairman of Pakistan’s Bank Alfalah, transferred an additional $2 million into the Wootton Cricket account in April 2013.
After that, Naqvi and a colleague exchanged emails about sending another $1.2 million to the PTI. Naqvi moved $1.2 million from the Wootton Cricket bank account to Pakistan in two instalments six days after the $2 million was deposited there. The top Abraaj official in charge of controlling financial flow, Rafique Lakhani, informed Naqvi via email that the transfers were meant for the PTI. No comments were given by Sheikh Nahyan in response to inquiries.
According to a Financial Times story, He was seen as a helpful ally in Washington. In a news statement, the Obama administration announced a $150 million contribution to an Abraaj fund that invests in Middle Eastern businesses, claiming that the cooperation will assist the US president to fulfil his pledge to strengthen trade ties with Islamic countries.
Abraaj’s single greatest investment was in K-Electric. But as the private equity business struggled financially in 2016, Naqvi negotiated a contract to transfer ownership of the power company to Shanghai Electric Power, a Chinese state-controlled company, for $1.77 billion.
Naqvi pushed for support from the Sharif and Khan administrations, as political approval for the agreement in Pakistan was crucial.
According to US federal prosecutors who eventually accused him of fraud, embezzlement, and attempted bribery, he authorized a $20 million payment to Pakistani leaders in 2016 to win their support.
Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shehbaz, who took over for Khan as prime minister in April, were allegedly the intended recipients of the cash, claimed by financial times. The brothers denied any involvement in the situation.
In Davos in January 2017, Naqvi served supper to Nawaz Sharif. Naqvi met Khan after he was elected prime minister. Khan criticized authorities while in office for delaying the sale of K-Electric, but the transaction is still pending.
Akbar S. Babar, who assisted in the founding of the PTI, made a complaint in December 2014, which led to the ECP probe into the funding of Khan’s party. Babar claims that “prohibited funding took place” despite the fact that thousands of Pakistanis from all over the world contributed donations to the PTI.
