Unbeknownst to the audience, four investors in Naqvi's Dubai-based $1 billion health care fund, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, had recruited forensic accountants to investigate where their money had gone.
A subsequent review by Deloitte LLP, made at the request of Abraaj Group, Naqvi's holding company, found it had dipped into money reserved for the health care fund as well as a private equity fund, according to a draft summary sent to creditors and seen by Bloomberg News.
In March, Naqvi halted fresh investments and released investors from commitments to a new fund, what would have been Abraaj's largest to date.
When it peaked at $13.6 billion worth of assets under management last year, it appeared to have lived up to the lofty name Naqvi chose for it years before: Abraaj means "towers" in Arabic.
More deals followed after Naqvi founded Abraaj in 2002 .
Abraaj paid for the company with $25 million in equity and $40 million in debt and made 6.6 times its investment when it took the business public in 2005 .
It also put Abraaj in an uncomfortable position, according to a person familiar with the firm's decision-making at the time: To attract and keep big international players, Naqvi would borrow money to invest in Abraaj's own funds and expand the asset base.
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