Prince of Wales trust stands by Naqvi’s charity despite collapse of Abraaj empire
▶ Foundations back philanthropy work despite Arif Naqvi being arrested over collapse of private equity group
One of the Prince of Wales’s charities has given more than £1 million to the welfare foundation of a businessman facing extradition over the collapse of his private equity empire, it has been disclosed.
The British Asian Trust has, in the past seven years, made grants of £1.4m (Dh6.53m) to Arif Naqvi’s Aman Foundation to run projects easing poverty in Pakistan.
The prominent businessman and philanthropist was arrested on April 10 at London’s Heathrow Airport over charges connected to the collapse of his Abraaj private equity group, based in Dubai.
Mr Naqvi spent seven weeks in Wandsworth prison before paying $19m (Dh69.7m) bail on May 29.
American prosecutors accuse Mr Naqvi and former Abraaj executive Mustafa Abdel-Wadood of defrauding investors, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The two deny any wrongdoing and Mr Naqvi says he expects to be cleared.
The British Asian Trust said it continued to work with the foundation, which is governed by Mr Naqvi and his family and aims to improve health care and vocational training for Pakistan’s poor.
A trust spokesman said Aman was performing strongly to hit the trust’s aims. But it said it was studying the situation and had “contingency arrangements” ready.
“We have been working with the Aman Foundation in Pakistan since 2012 on a number of programmes including mental health and livelihoods,” the spokesman said. “In total we have made grants to the Aman Foundation worth £1.4m.”
The foundation was “wholly independent” from Abraaj and the trust said it made “an extensive due diligence assessment” before handing over money.
“As expected, we are monitoring the situation and have contingency arrangements that we could enact at short notice, as we do with all our local partner organisations,” the spokesman said. “At this time, no decision has been made to change our working relationship with the foundation.”
The British Asian Trust was founded in 2007 by Prince Charles and leading British Asian entrepreneurs to tackle poverty in South Asia.
The charity says it has since helped four million people. It recently worked with the foundation on a programme to empower Pakistani women.
The trust is partly funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, which gave a grant of £3.4m in 2017.
Mr Naqvi’s wife, Fayeeza, is a trustee of the British Asian Trust and, alongside her sons and husband, of the Aman Foundation.
The Aman Foundation was created in 2008 and is most famous for its fleet of 60 ambulances operating in Sindh province. The service is in the process of being transferred to the provincial government.
A spokesman for the foundation told The National it was an independent and separate organisation from the Abraaj Group.
“As a charitable trust registered in Pakistan, working to transform the lives of people across the country, any matters related to the Abraaj group or ongoing legal proceedings involving Mr Arif Naqvi have no bearing on the operations of the Aman Foundation,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said the foundation was committed to continuing its work to improve the health and vocational education of poor Pakistanis.
The Aman Foundation also runs a network of female community health workers, a family planning programme and a phone health helpline for those who cannot get to a clinic.
Other programmes offer job training to give people a trade. For the past two years, the British Asian Trust, backed by the Department for International Development, has been giving grants to the foundation to help women earn a livelihood by teaching them skills and how to get goods to markets.
“We have not seen any evidence of wrongdoing at the Aman Foundation and have rigorous checks in place to protect UK taxpayers’ money,” a department spokesman said. “We will take firm action if it is misused.
“As with all of our downstream partners we are monitoring the delivery of their UK-funded programmes closely.”
Aman Foundation spokesman says it is independent and separate from the Abraaj Group