Dubai focuses on senior management in Abraaj probe

Dubai is focusing its investigation on senior management of the collapsed private equity group Abraaj, said a senior official of Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
Bryan Stirewalt, chief executive officer of DFSA, said the supervision and enforcement teams devoted considerable time and effort to investigate the conduct of the affairs of Abraaj Capital Limited, and its related parties in 2018.
“This investigation is highly complex, on a wide scale and is being pursued vigorously. We are focusing our attention on senior management responsible for the conduct of the affairs of the relevant companies and funds, and persons who may have failed in their responsibilities to identify or report irregularities. We will use all of our powers to deal with those who are found to be culpable,” Stirewalt said in DFSA’s 2018 annual report.
The largest buyout fund in the Mena region until its collapse in 2018, Abraaj had filed for provisional liquidation in June 2018 in the Cayman Islands. Its senior management has been accused of mismanagement of funds including $1 billion healthcare fund which had high profile investors such as World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Several senior level officials of Abraaj, including its founder Arif Naqvi, have been charged in the US with criminal charges and defrauding investors.DFSA had said in April that it was in talks with the US Securities and Exchange Commission about the Abraaj case.
Bryan Stirewalt said the number of firms operating in and from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) grew in 2018 to more than 600 entities, including 491 authorised firms, 116 designated non-financialbusinesses and professions (DNFBPs), and 16 registered auditors.
“If we include 69 registered funds now based in the centre, the total regulated entities approach 700. The total balance sheet of DIFC-based commercial banks is now almost $160 billion (Dh587.2 billion), and we have a number of commercial banks in the authorisation pipeline,” Stirewalt said.
Since the UAE will be subject to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) evaluation this year, the authority said continued to focus on combating all forms of illicit finance. It also undertook a full assessment of DFSA’s anti-money laundering framework to ensure technical compliance with the FATF Recommendations.
-waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com