UAE court to rule on Abraaj founder check case next week | Reuters

UAE court to rule on Abraaj founder check case next week | Reuters:

A United Arab Emirates court is expected to rule next week on a criminal case against Abraaj founder Arif Naqvi for issuing a check without sufficient funds, a lawyer involved in the case said on Thursday.

The Sharjah court case relates to a check for 177.1 million dirhams ($48 million), signed by Naqvi and fellow executive Muhammad Rafique Lakhani, and written to Hamid Jafar, another founding shareholder in private equity firm Abraaj, according to a prosecution document and a clerk at the prosecutor’s office.

The public prosecutor’s office issued arrest warrants this month against Naqvi, who founded Abraaj in 2002, and Lakhani in the latest blow to the Middle East’s biggest private equity fund, which is in dispute with four investors over the use of their money in a $1 billion healthcare fund.