A Swedish gangster accused of working for Iran to attack Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe has been sanctioned by the UK.
Rawa Majid, 39, known as the Kurdish Fox, has been linked to an attack on the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 2024, on behalf of Iran, using his "Foxtrot Network" of criminals. The UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the sanctions imposed on Majid and the Foxtrot Network formed part of its “ongoing response to Iranian hostilities in Europe”.
“The UK has announced sanctions against the notorious criminal Foxtrot Network and its leadership,” he said. “The Iranian regime uses criminal gangs across the world to threaten people. The UK has targeted this criminal network and its leader, Rawa Majid, due to their involvement in violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime. The UK will not tolerate these threats.”
Mr Lammy did not specify if the Foxtrot Network was linked to any attacks on people in the UK. He said the move comes after it was announced Iran will be placed on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (Firs). The move requires Iran to register everything it does to exert political influence in the UK, subjecting Tehran to an elevated tier of scrutiny in light of what the government says is increasingly aggressive activity.
“To date, the UK has sanctioned more than 450 Iranian individuals and entities, in response to the regime’s human rights violations, nuclear weapons programme and malign influence internationally,” said Mr Lammy. “The UK government will continue to hold the Iranian regime and criminals acting on its behalf to account.”
Under the sanctions any British citizen or business is banned from dealing with any funds or economic resources which are owned, held or controlled by Majid and the Foxtrot Network. They are also not allowed to hold directorships of UK companies and Majid is also banned from travelling to the UK.
The UK’s decision comes after sanctions imposed on Majid and the Foxtrot Network by the US, which described the organisation as “one of the most notorious criminal gangs based in Sweden, and has conducted shootings, contract killings, assaults and other forms of violence”.
Foxtrot is “one of the most prominent drug-trafficking organisations in the region with a presence in other European countries”, said the US Treasury when it announced the sanctions. Majid is wanted in Sweden for drug offences and other offences, and a prosecutor recently told The National he has fled Turkey, thwarting efforts to have him extradited. He is also the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, which states he is also wanted on murder and attempted murder charges, as well as charges of drugs offences.
Also used by Iran to target its opponents is Majid’s former criminal associate, Ismail Abdo, who leads the "Rumba" organisation. The rival gangs are wanted by authorities in Sweden on suspicion of ordering killings in a brutal turf war over the country's illegal drugs market.
The recruitment of criminal gangs by Iran was revealed by Sweden’s Sapo counter-intelligence service last May. At the same time, Israel’s Mossad agency named Majid and Abdo, along with their criminal networks, as the groups used by Tehran. Iran has sought to assassinate dissidents through other criminal networks, including that of the Iranian drug trafficker Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti, who had sanctions imposed on him by the US last January.
Majid was born in Iran but could also be an Iraqi citizen, the US Treasury says. His family settled in the city of Uppsala in Sweden, where he became involved in crime.
He is widely acknowledged as playing a major part in the escalation of gang violence in Sweden, which has shattered its reputation as a peaceful country. The violence has included a spate of bomb attacks, with criminals’ families targeted.
Children are recruited by criminal groups to carry out attacks on rivals, because under Swedish law no one can be convicted until they are 15, with lighter sentences likely for under-18s.
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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.”
