GHF Fund Defeats $300 Million Fraud Claim Arising From Abraaj Collapse in Cayman Islands

Cleary Gottlieb successfully defended GHF General Partner Limited, in its capacity as general partner of the GHF Funds, and The GHF Group Limited (GHF Fund) in claims commenced before the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands by Abdulhameed Jafar in 2020, arising out of the collapse of the Abraaj Group in 2018.

The GHF Fund is a $1 billion fund originally established to invest in healthcare projects in the developing world. Its investors include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IFC (a member of the World Bank group), DFC, and BII (the U.S. and UK national development finance institutions).

Following an eight-week trial, which commenced in November 2023 and concluded in January 2024, judgment has now been published dismissing all of Mr. Jafar’s claims against the GHF Fund.

Mr. Jafar had alleged that the GHF Fund was liable for fraudulent misrepresentation or, in the alternative, unjust enrichment, on the basis of loans he advanced to the Abraaj group in the amount of $300 million, following meetings with Arif Naqvi, the founder and CEO of Abraaj, in December 2017. Mr. Jafar had parallel claims against Neoma Private Equity Fund IV and the Joint Official Liquidators of Abraaj Holdings, which were jointly case managed and heard together.

The judgment, which is set out over 938 pages, dismissed Mr. Jafar’s claims against the GHF Fund and determined that the GHF Fund and its investors were not responsible for any wrongdoing. Crucially, the judge determined that Mr. Naqvi was not acting for or on behalf of the GHF Fund in his discussions with Mr. Naqvi and therefore that the alleged false representations that Mr. Naqvi made to Mr. Jafar regarding the Abraaj group’s finances and governance could not be attributed to the GHF Fund.

The Cleary team was led by partner James Norris-Jones and included partner Naomi Tarawali and associates Emma Williams and Georgina Rawson.

The team worked closely with the claims manager for the GHF Fund, FFP (Cayman) Limited, led by Richard Lewis and Nicola Cowan, Cayman Island attorneys, Walkers (Cayman) LLP, led by Matt Goucke and Shelley White, and Stephen Atherton KC, Sarah Tresman, and Patrick Dunn-Walsh of Twenty Essex.