Mixture of wheeler-dealer and diplomat

Lakhani was a natural in the world of oil trading, equally at ease in the presidential palace of an oil-rich megalomaniac or the refined and discreet world of Swiss finance. He was born in Karachi, Pakistan, but had grown up in London and Vancouver. A natural entertainer, he hosted concerts for the diplomatic corps at his bungalow in a wealthy neighbourhood of Baghdad. Later in Erbil, in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, he would hold parties with free-flowing champagne and seafood flown in from Dubai where guests would goggle at his collection of paintings by Salvador Dali. Lakhani’s role was a mixture of wheeler-dealer and diplomat. Known variously as ‘middlemen’, ‘agents’ or ‘fixers’, men like Lakhani are hired by commodity traders for their connections and ability to make things happen in difficult parts of the world, where the traders may not have a fully-staffed office.”

Excerpt From: Farchy, Jack. “The World for Sale.”