DUBAI // Two of three brothers who were sentenced to five years in jail for locking up a man in his own flat and stabbing and beating him, had their sentences reduced to two years each by the Dubai Court of Appeal.
The Dubai Criminal Court convicted the Pakistani defendants in September but only two appealed against the verdict – the third brother remains at large.
The victim was rescued after he threw pieces of paper with the word “help” written on them, out of his window.
The three Pakistani defendants, ages 36, 37 and 38, went to the victim’s flat on June 22 last year.
The victim, J K, 38, also Pakistani, said he was surprised to see the men enter his flat without permission.
“We argued then the three assaulted me with their hands. Then one of them stabbed me in the abdomen before they stripped me and took pictures of me naked,” said J K.
Over the three days, the men took turns providing J K with food or taking him to the bathroom after they tied him up.
The victim said they stole Dh100,000 from him as well as three smartphones worth Dh5,000 and a number of cheques.
On the first day J K wrote “help” on pieces of paper and threw them out of the window.
He wrote several other notes and threw them into the street every time the three men were not looking.
Security guards working at Al Khail accommodations in the Al Quoz area found the papers two days later and called police.
Police then went to the flat to find J K tied to a chair and bleeding. His eyes were swollen.
“When we asked them why he had been locked up they said that they had differences with him,” said policeman S A.
Two of the defendants were arrested, but the third was not at the flat at the time of the arrest.
At court, all three were charged with locking up a person, robbery, assault and sexual assault for stripping and taking pictures of him naked.
They were also charged with trespassing.
Each was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail.
The two who were caught will still be deported after completing their reduced jail terms.
salamir@thenational.ae
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
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