This Indian businessman in London is facing extradition to Switzerland

Businessman Ahsan Ali Syed, founder of Western Gulf Advisory, and owner of Racing de Santander football club in Spain. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

An Indian businessman who has taken up Turkish nationality is fighting extradition to Switzerland in a London court. Ahsan Ali Syed, 50, who managed Swiss-Bahraini investment companies, is accused of perpetrating a loan fraud to the tune of 28.6 million Swiss Francs ($30 million) between September 2010 and May 2011. Syed denies the allegations and maintains that he was investigated by the Bahraini authorities who did not find any wrongdoing.

According to the Swiss authorities, Western Gulf Advisory AG and Western Gulf Assets Limited, which were owned and managed by Syed, had promised 23 companies to advance loans — in various amounts ranging from $30 million to $80 million — for which they were charged fees. These loans never materialised, and the fees were not returned. But Syed’s lawyer told the Westminster Magistrates' Court that these allegations are over a decade old, and as he has already been investigated and cleared in Bahrain, Syed cannot be tried again for the same charges.

According to documents filed and submissions made in court, Switzerland alleges that Syed, who was born in Hyderabad, used the fraud proceeds to buy an apartment on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland and the Spanish football club Racing Santander in 2010, among other expenses. Nicholas Hearn, who represented the Government of India in the Nirav Modi extradition case, is representing Switzerland, insists it is not clear whether Syed faced an actual trial in Bahrain. District Judge John McGarva at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court is expected to give a ruling in July 2023.

Alun Jones who is representing Syed stressed that the charges that have been brought against him are the same that were investigated in Bahrain; hence it would be wrong to extradite his client to Switzerland. Hearn maintains that Syed is a fugitive who fled Switzerland in 2011 and must face the law for the alleged fraud.

In London, Syed lives in style in South Kensington and made headlines just over a decade ago when he entered the fray to buy football club Blackburn Rovers. The deal fell through in 2010, but at the time he had got wide coverage in the British media over his ambitious 15-year plan to transform Blackburn Rovers for which he promised £300 million. Even showing interest in a Premier League Club is a sure way to get the spotlight and Syed got it plenty. There was another positioning that got him extra attention — it was claimed his family wealth was to be traced to the East India Company!

At that time his wealth was assessed to be worth anything between $8 billion to $12 billion. There were talks that the Premier League officials wanted greater details of the fund to be used to buy the club, which put him off. During the same period it emerged that Ali lived in the UK between 2001 and 2006 and had unpaid council tax bills and rents. Ali maintained all dues were eventually settled. Being unable to buy Blackburn Rovers, he next set his sight on the Spanish club Racing Santander, in which he bought 80 percent stake in January 2011.

A player revolt was not long, due to unpaid wages and unkempt promises. He had spoken about his vision to raise Racing Standard to the stature of Real Madrid and Barcelona, but instead it went on a downward spiral. Those with a keen eye on football had predicted that Syed won’t last long on football ground, and he left the Spanish club in a mess in 2011 itself, just within months of buying it. Syed, who would travel in a private jet to watch football, was nowhere to be found as the club filed for bankruptcy.

Around the same time his company was ordered to cease trading by the Bahrain Gulf Central Bank and investors from Australia and Malaysia were said to be chasing him for the loans that never materialised though his company charged them hefty sums. But all along, Syed maintained that allegations against him are false and baseless.

Before his takeover of Racing Santander prominent consultancy firms had done due diligence and confirmed that his companies had made over 100 million euros in profit in 2010-11. And when some international investors started appearing too prominently in the UK media levelling allegations of fraud, Syed took some to courts for defamation in Bahrain and Netherlands. But Switzerland continued to take action against Syed, seizing assets and freezing bank accounts worth millions of dollars.

Syed is believed to have come to the UK from Hyderabad as a student in 2001, and studied at London School of Economics (LSE). In 2008, he established Western Gulf Advisory in Bahrain, an asset management company that began to offer refinance deals to businesses on the payment of a percentage of the loans sought. His clients included businessmen and investors from around the world.

Now, he is back in the UK, and a ruling from the Westminster Magistrates’ Court will decide whether he can continue to stay in London, or be extradited to Switzerland to face charges of fraud. There would also be the appeals process which would take place in the high court not far from LSE where he was once a student.