Former Iraq prime minister Nouri Al Maliki appeared before a judge in Baghdad on Tuesday over leaked audio recordings in which he seems to insult his powerful rival, Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, and plots to arm a militia group.
The audio tapes — the authenticity of which is contested — were leaked in early July by US-based blogger and activist Ali Al Fadhil amid rising tension among political rivals over forming a new government.
Mr Al Maliki says the audio is fake.
In September, politicians linked to Mr Al Sadr filed the legal action against Mr Al Maliki, who was Iraq's prime minister between 2006 and 2014.
Senior Sadrist member Jaafar Al Mousawi said the investigative judge registered Mr Al Maliki’s statements and ordered his release on bail.
If charges are brought, the judge would then set a date for the trial, Mr Al Mousawi said.
Husham Al Rikabi, who runs Mr Al Maliki’s media office, confirmed that he was at a Baghdad court on Tuesday, giving no other details.
There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi Judiciary Council.
The tapes feature a meeting between someone said to be Mr Al Maliki and representatives of a Shiite militia. The date and whereabouts of the meeting is unknown.
In the audio, the person said to be Mr Al Maliki appears to accuse Mr Al Sadr of kidnappings and murder campaigns after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, mainly during sectarian warfare in 2006 and 2007.
In the recording, the voice attributed to Mr Al Maliki also seems to claim Mr Al Sadr is backed by foreign powers who want to drive a wedge among Shiites who ascended to power after 2003 and expresses readiness to fight Mr Al Sadr.
He describes the government-sanctioned Popular Mobilisation Forces — a largely Iran-backed militia force — as “cowards”, accusing their senior leaders of corruption.
At one point, he urges representatives of the militia group to align with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, a branch of Iran's armed forces, and promised to arm them.
In September, the head of the Sadrist bloc, Nassar Al Rubaie, asked authorities to issue an arrest warrant and travel ban against Mr Al Maliki, accusing him of threatening peace and security in the country.
He also accused Mr Al Maliki of seeking to cause sedition and sectarian fighting in the country.
After serving two terms as prime minister up to 2014, Mr Al Maliki sought a third term. But he was forced out from office as ISIS swept through northern and western Iraq, amid a collapse in security.
Bitter feuding between Mr Al Sadr and Mr Al Maliki is one of the main reasons behind the deadlock in forming a new Iraqi government.
Mr Al Sadr, who emerged a clear winner in October 2021 elections with 73 seats out of 329 seats, but required coalition partners to form a government.
He sought to sideline Mr Al Maliki’s State of Law coalition that won more than 30 seats.
The enmity between the two men dates to 2008, when Mr Al Maliki launched a military operation against Al Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia.
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.”
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
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