NADHMI AUCHI is one of Britain’s most secretive yet influential billionaires.

He has all the trappings of wealth, including a private jet, and from his Kensington penthouse office he has access to leaders around the world. The phone constantly rings with calls from the great and good.

In the entrance to his office hangs a painting presented to Auchi in 1999 by Tony Blair and signed by 130 MPs. Inside, under the 5ft-wide television screen broadcasting CNN, are pictures of the billionaire with former American president Bill Clinton and vice-president Al Gore, and an array of Middle East leaders and royalty.

He is the only non-Catholic to have been knighted by the Pope for his charity work.

Auchi is also a successful businessman. He says he has turned a £1.1m business into a £1.4 billion private company since fleeing Iraq to settle in Britain more than 20 years ago.

According to documents he has presented to The Sunday Times, he owns more than 120 companies across the world, including hotels in the Middle East and aviation firms in Britain.

But, as with many billionaires, perhaps the thing he craves most is public recognition. Several of his business activities have attracted bad publicity and he has been prosecuted in France and is reportedly facing investigations in Britain and America.

Until now, Auchi has never given an interview, but he wishes to set the record straight.

“I don’t know why I attract the negative attention. You tell me,” he said. “I think it might be because I am an Iraqi doing good business and I have good contacts. It sometimes seems to be politically motivated.”

He also denied allegations that he has bought influence, although he does have several former government ministers on his boards.

“I have never made a donation to the Labour party,” he said. “All the parties ask for money but I have not made any political donations.”

Auchi was born in Baghdad in 1937, the son of an accountant. After studying economics and politics at university, he joined the Ba’ath party which, at the time, was fighting for democracy in Iraq. In those days the Ba’ath party did not rule Iraq as it did under Saddam Hussein, but the link has haunted Auchi.

“I left the Ba’ath party in 1962 and was jailed in Iraq when the party came to power in 1963,” he said. “I have never met Saddam Hussein and I find it very upsetting when I am linked to him. The regime killed my brother.”