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Dubai Financial Regulator to Focus on Abraaj Management in Probe

Dubai Financial Regulator to Focus on Abraaj Management in Probe

(Bloomberg) -- The Dubai Financial Services Authority said its investigation into the collapsed Abraaj Group is focusing on the buyout firm’s senior management and people who failed to report irregularities.

“We will use all of our powers to deal with those who are found to be culpable,” the regulator said in its 2018 annual report published on Tuesday. “This investigation is highly complex, on a wide scale and is being pursued vigorously.”

Dubai-based Abraaj, which once managed about $14 billion, was forced into liquidation last year after being accused of mismanaging investor funds. Before that, it had been one of the world’s most influential emerging-market investors with stakes in health care, clean energy, lending and real estate across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Turkey.

Abraaj’s former managing partner Mustafa Abdel-Wadood pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in the U.S. last month, admitting that he lied to investors across the globe in an attempt to hide losses and raise more money. Five other executives, including founder and former Chief Executive Officer Arif Naqvi, have also been charged in the U.S.

The DFSA, as the regulator is known, doesn’t have criminal jurisdiction, unlike U.S. regulators.

“Our supervision and enforcement teams devoted considerable time and effort to investigating the conduct of the affairs of the private equity firm, Abraaj Capital Limited, and its related parties,” DFSA Chief Executive Officer Bryan Stirewalt said in the report.

The DFSA said in April that was communicating with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the charges against Abraaj’s former top executives.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Martin in Dubai at mmartin128@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Claudia Maedler

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.