A UK citizen and Srilanka born pleads guilty to serious financial crimes in US

A Sri Lankan born British national, Sivendran Vettivetpillai, has pleaded guilty to serious financial crimes in the US.

The former senior managing partner of Abraaj equity group pleaded guilty to nine counts of criminal charges carrying a total of 115 years in jail and a fine of up to $11.5 million, Daily Times Pakistan reported.

According to Sivendran Vettivetpillai’s guilty plea, these criminal activities took place between 2014 and 2018, as charged by the United States authorities.

The Sri Lankan born British national pleaded guilty to the serious charges before Judge Sarah Netburn at the US District Court in the Southern District of New York.

According to court papers lodged at the London High Court and the New York District Court, Sivendran Vettivetpillai pleaded guilty to serious financial crimes in order to get less jail years and fine through a bargain with the US authorities against Pakistani national former founder and chief executive of Abraaj, Mr Syed Arif Naqvi.

The guilty plea by Sivendran Vettivetpillai follows a guilty please by another Abraaj managing partner Mustafa Abdel-Wadood who also pleaded guilty to the same charges. Pakistani national Arif Naqvi is the only Abraaj senior figure vociferously fighting all charges and maintaining his innocence. Arif Naqvi has said that he didn’t commit any crime and his lawyers didn’t comment when approached about the guilty plea by other Abraaj exceutives.