The Economist - USA (2021-07-10)

The Economist July 10th 2021 Books & arts 77

vestors’  funds  should never be com­
mingled  with  the  firm’sownmoney.The
more  investors’  cash  wasdivertedinthis
way, says the book, themoreelaboratewas
the  extra  financial  juggling required to
make  it  look  to  themandtherestofthe
outside world as if nothingwasawry.The
strain  appears  to  havepushedMrNaqvi’s
finance  chief,  a  piousPakistaniaccoun­
tant, to the edge of a nervousbreakdown.
The alleged jiggery­pokerybegantoun­
ravel  when  the  GatesFoundationnoticed
discrepancies  in  a  health­carefundithad
invested in. Whistleblowerscameforward;
investigations  were  launched.Abraajcol­
lapsed into liquidation.
American prosecutorshavechargedMr
Naqvi  with  running  acriminalenterprise
that  “corrupted”  Abraajbetween 2014 and

2018.  He  faces  a  long  jailsentenceifcon­
      victed. Having lost hisbattleagainstextra­
      dition, he is in effect underhousearrestin
      London  on  £15m  ($20.7m)bail—aBritish
      record—while he appeals.In 2019 a former
      senior  Abraaj  executivepleadedguiltyin
      New  York  to  fraud  andracketeering.Later
      that  year  Mr  Naqvi  himselfwasconvicted
      of  fraud  in  the  UnitedArabEmirates,and
      sentenced  to  three  yearsinprison,over
      loans from an airline allegedlyusedtoplug
      a gap in Abraaj’s accounts.
      “The Key Man” is impeccablyresearch­
      ed and sumptuous in itsdetail.Butsome­
      times  the  authors are too keen to
      share  everything  theyhave gleaned—for
      instance,  in  pages  andpagesonthetake­
      over  of  an  electrical  utilityinPakistan,or
      on Mr Naqvi’s bail hearings.A jumpbackin
      time  for  a  long  descriptionoftheGates
      Foundation’s  early involvement with
      Abraaj,  just  as  thingsweregettingreally
      tense in 2016, is peculiar.Thebookwould
      have been better withoutsuchdiversions,
      at two­thirds the length.
      For  the  most  part,  though,itisa page­
      turner,  built  around  arivetingportraitof
      the  key  man  of  the  title.MrNaqvicomes
      across  as  a  teeming massof contradic­
      tions: a charming and generousfigurewho
      inspired  great  loyalty,butwasalsobully­
      ing  and  self­important.“Hetalkedabout
      his  love  for  democracybuthisemployees
      experienced  a  dictatorship,” theauthors
      conclude.  He  told  anyonewhowouldlis­
      ten  that  he  was  on  theboardofInterpol,
      when his role was actuallyata foundation
      linked to it. He liked tocomparehimselfto
      heroes  from  history, real andimagined,
      from Moses to Sinbad.
      The book is also a timelyreminderthat
      it  is  when  financial  firmsoffer services
      that  seem  to  suit  thezeitgeist,andgrow
      rapidly as a result, thatscrutinyofthemis
      most  needed.  The list of those too
      mesmerised  by  Abraaj’s profit­with­pur­
      pose  mantra  to  ask  seriousquestionsis
      uncomfortably long. Withmoney,aswith
      missiles, trust but verify.n

Mediterraneanhistory

Under the volcano

S

icilybeguiles. It offerscoveswithlim­

pidwater;Greektemples,suchasthose

atAgrigentoandSegesta,thatareamong

thebestpreservedintheMediterranean;a

Roman amphitheatre at Taormina still

used for its original dramatic purpose;

grandioseBaroquepalazzi; bustlingstreet

markets;someofthebestfoodtobehadin

Italy;anexpandingrangeoffinewinesat

reasonableprices;anda cathedralinPaler­

mothatisa riotofeclecticism.Etnaona

spring morning,still cappedwith snow

andbelching smoke, isamongEurope’s

greatestsights.

TheancientGreekssawSicilyasrich

andfertileyet“dangerousandunpredict­

able”.ForJamieMackay,authorofthisbrief

andpaceyhistoryoftheisland,theirper­

ceptionreflecteda dualviewofSicilythat

wouldbeexpressedindifferentformsup

tothepresentday.InMrMackay’stelling,a

tipping­pointarrivedatthedawnofthe

14thcenturyafterseveralhundredyearsof

relatively enlightened rule by Byzantine

Greeks,ArabsandNormans.Theuprising

thatcametobeknownastheSicilianVes­

perssparkeda warthatledtotheexpulsion

oftheisland’sFrenchrulers.Butitisonly

toocharacteristicofSicily’sillfortunethat

this popular victory should ultimately

havehadsuchdismaleffects.

Sovereigntyoveranethnicallyandreli­

giouslydiverseislandpassed,viatherul­

ersofAragonandCatalonia,tothoseofa

newlyunifiedSpain,obsessed  with  con­

fessional  uniformity  and,  by  implication,

racial purity. Sicily became an outlying ter­

ritory in an empire that favoured tradition­

al  social  arrangements  and  a  profoundly

conservative  form  of  Catholicism.  For  al­

most  400  years,  Mr  Mackay  notes,  Sicily

had been governed by an urban elite in Pa­

lermo.  “Following  the  Vespers,  though,

power  moved  progressively  away  from

these individuals, and into the hands of ru­

ral landowners and church authorities.”

A  strand  of  popular  heterodoxy  en­

dured,  half­surfacing  as  superstition,  the

secret  worship  of  polytheistic  deities  and

even the practice of magic. But among the

results  of  Sicily’s  incorporation  into  the

Spanish  Empire  was  that  it  was  barely  af­

fected  by  Renaissance  humanism.  Being

part  of  the  empire  did,  however,  shield  it

from  the  worst  effects  of  the  decline  in

Mediterranean trade prompted by the col­

onisation of the Americas. And, after Sicily

became  part  of  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  it

got a whiff of the Enlightenment, thanks to

the Bourbon monarch who would become

Charles III of Spain. A second apparent lib­

eration, by Giuseppe Garibaldi and a small

army  of  Italian  nationalists,  again  turned

sour: Italy’s new, Piedmontese rulers bung­

led the peace that followed, and Sicily’s na­

scent Mafia exploited the chaos.

Mr  Mackay  is  at  his  best  when  he

weaves  concise  descriptions  of  customs,

social  changes,  legends  and  cultural  glo­

ries  through  this  tumultuous  narrative.

Artistically,  Sicily’s  historical  relationship

with the Italian mainland bears some simi­

larity  to  Ireland’s  with  Britain:  an  island

with  a  disproportionately  small  middle

class, sandwiched between a vast, unedu­

cated peasantry and a landowning aristoc­

racy  largely  indifferent  to  culture,  which

nevertheless  produced  a  string  of  literary,

artistic and musical giants. Vincenzo Belli­

ni,  Giovanni  Verga,  Luigi  Pirandello,  Leo­

nardo  Sciascia,  Renato  Guttuso,  Giuseppe

Tomasi  di  Lampedusa  and,  most  recently,

Andrea Camilleri, were all Sicilians.

The author is at his worst when he fails

to check his facts and verify his assertions.

He  appears  to  take  as  historically  reliable

the  legendary  founding  date  of  Rome,  de­

scribes  the  Benedictines  and  Jesuits  as

“sects”  and  makes  Oscar  Luigi  Scalfaro

prime minister of Italy, a post Mr Scalfaro

never  held.  These  are  unfortunate  mis­

steps  in  an  enjoyablecanter  across  a  his­

tory, and a place, whichare entrancing and

disturbing by turns.n

Longing to travel again? A chronicle of Sicily will make it worse

The Invention of Sicily.By Jamie Mackay.

Verso; 304 pages; $24.95 and £16.99

Adangerous beauty