Nadhmi Auchi

Nadhmi Shakir Auchi, (; born 11 June 1937) is a British-Iraqi businessman and billionaire, founding president of the Anglo Arab Organisation, and the founder and chairman of General Mediterranean Holding (GMH), a conglomerate of 120 companies worldwide.

According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2023, Auchi is worth £1.182 billion.

Personal life Born in the Karadat Mariam area of Baghdad, Iraq, in 1937 to an Assyrian family of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Auchi attended Al Mansoor Primary School and Baghdad College High School, before going on to study at Baghdad's Mustansiriyah University. He married his wife Ibtisam in 1963, and together they have 3 daughters and 1 son, born in 1964 and 1972 respectively. In 1979, he and his family fled to London following an extortion attempt by an enforcer for Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti. Six years later, Auchi's younger brother Naseer was hanged by the Baathist regime after discovering the extent of al-Tikriti's corruption. Auchi became a British citizen in 1989 and currently resides in London. Auchi pays the full study and living costs of ten students from Egypt and other Arab states. The fellowship plan was announced during an annual ceremony at the Egyptian Embassy in London to celebrate AUC achievements.

Honours and awards In 1996, the President of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, made him an Officer of the Order of the Republic. In 2002, he was also awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence by King Abdullah II of Jordan.

In 2003, Auchi was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I (GCFO) by Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, this in recognition of his major contributions to inter-church and inter-faith dialogue. In England, the College of Arms approved his Coat of Arms in 2004. In the same year the president of the Republic of Lebanon, Émile Lahoud, awarded Auchi with the Membership First Grade of the Lebanese Order of Merit, having already appointed him as a Commander of the National Order of the Cedar in 2000. He was made a Knight of the Order of St. Sylvester (KSS) by Pope John Paul II in 2004.

In 2005 Auchi was made Grao-Mestre da Ordem do Merito Anhanguera in Brazil and was elected as an Honorary Member in the International College of Surgeons in Chicago, Illinois.

Auchi was awarded 'The Presidential Prize' in 2007 by the President of the American University in Cairo, in appreciation of his efforts in supporting higher education in the Arab World.

On 18 July 2013, he was awarded the Freedom of the City of London

On 13 November 2014, Auchi was appointed a Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of the Nation (KCN) of Antigua and Barbuda. This knighthood was later removed by the Governor General of Antigua following accusations around the circumstances in which it was given.

Controversies In 2003, Auchi was convicted of fraud following his involvement in a $504 million corruption scandal centred on the French oil company Elf Aquitaine, described as "the biggest political and corporate sleaze scandal to hit a western democracy since the second world war". Auchi was given a $2.8 million fine, along with a 15-month suspended jail sentence, for his involvement in the 1991 purchase by Elf Aquitaine of various Spanish oil refineries and petrol stations, having been accused by prosecutors of funnelling $118 million of illegal commissions back to the Elf executives who had initially set up the deal.

Following the verdict, Elf (by now merged with TotalFina and renamed Total) decided to take legal action against Auchi in France; Auchi responded by suing Total for $327 million in turn, this time in the UK.