Sons of Arif Naqvi warned over their London business

Axil Advisers operated as an agent of Abraaj before the collapse of the private equity giant

Arif Naqvi, founder of the Abraaj Group, faces charges of financial wrongdoing related to his company. Reuters

The London-based business run by the sons of former Abraaj boss Arif Naqvi averted a threat of closure on Thursday after filing its accounts nearly two months late.

Authorities had warned directors Ahsan Naqvi, 30, and UAE-based Faaris, 28, that their company, Axil Advisers LLP, could be shut down after two months because of the failure to file their accounts before March 31.

Axil acted as an agent for Abraaj Advisers UK, a business controlled by their father, until it went into liquidation last year as part of the world’s largest private equity insolvency.

Arif Naqvi, 58, was detained on April 10 at London’s Heathrow Airport after flying in from Islamabad and faces extradition to the US for alleged fraud in connection with the collapse of his Dubai-based private equity group.

The Dubai-based fund managed up to $14 billion in assets before its collapse when investors raised concerns about mismanagement. He denies wrongdoing and said that he expected to be cleared of any charges.

He remains in custody as he seeks to raise £15m bail, which would allow him to live under curfew at the family’s London home at a gated mansion-block during the extradition process.

Companies House, which runs a register of 4.1 million UK businesses, published the warning about the compulsory striking off of Axil on Thursday. It would have followed a warning letter and two default notices to the company.

An official said such actions were taken if it had “reasonable cause to believe that a company is not carrying on business or in operation.”

The company documents were published on the online company register later on Thursday. The office of Axil Advisers is just yards from the Abraaj Group London’s former headquarters in London’s upmarket Mayfair district. It was closed last year as part of insolvency cost-cutting measures.

The Axil office is also the registered address for the Aman Foundation UK, the London wing of the family-run charity set up in 2008 and is focused on health and education projects in Arif Naqvi’s native Pakistan.

The British charity, headed by Mrs Naqvi, filed its last accounts this month 17 days late. They revealed that the charity received £1.87m from donations and legacies in the year to June 2018 – a reduction of a third from the previous year.