The UAE has announced the arrest of two internationally wanted men allegedly involved in human trafficking and money laundering.
The two brothers and their associates were caught following a nine-month security operation led by the UAE in partnership with Interpol.
Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam of Eritrea was arrested in Sudan on Sunday by local police in co-operation with the UAE's Ministry of Interior, it was announced in a press conference on Thursday.
He was wanted for leading a criminal organisation that, over several years, kidnapped, mistreated and extorted East African migrants looking to migrate to Europe, according to an Interpol red notice.
His gang held thousands of African refugees and migrants bound for Europe in warehouses in Libya and extorted thousands of dollars from them and their families, Reuters reported in June.
Kidane was arrested in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in 2020 but escaped in February 2021. Four months later, in his absence, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In October, Dutch prosecutors put Kidane on their most wanted list. Reuters said a Dutch public prosecutor's investigation revealed that his organisation “abuses, extorts, kidnaps and rapes Eritreans” who want to reach the Netherlands.
After his arrest in Sudan this week, he was extradited to the UAE.
In a video shared on social media by Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, showed the trafficking routes for hundreds of illegal immigrants from Africa to Europe, with people moved from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Libya across the Mediterranean Sea and into Italy.
Brig Saeed Al Suwaidi, director general of the UAE's Federal Anti-Narcotics General Directorate, said on Thursday that Kidane will face trial in the UAE.
“UAE Public Prosecution is reviewing his file for the moment,” Brig Al Suwaidi said.
“He will go on trial first in the UAE and the court will decide later on the extradition to Ethiopia or Netherlands after he gets his final judgment.
“It was a happy new year for all police departments working on this operation.”
It is estimated that since 2014, Kidane has been responsible for the trafficking of thousands of victims.
In March last year, intelligence gathered by Interpol's Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants unit led to a task force being formed by participants from the UAE, Ethiopia, Sudan, the Netherlands and Europol.
The collaboration generated fresh intelligence which allowed UAE authorities to conduct an investigation into Kidane's network and family as well as identify money-laundering activities.
“His arrest will neutralise a major people-smuggling route to Europe and protect thousands who would have been at risk of exploitation,” Brig Al Suwaidi said.
“[Kidane] is top level in his network. He was directing his partners on how to transfer migrants from one place to another.”
Stephen Kavanagh, executive director of Police Services at Interpol, said Kidane used people as commodities.
“We know he was using false identification to cross borders and he was travelling by air sometimes,” Mr Kavanagh said.
“We are proud of the co-operation with the UAE and the global effort to arrest Zekarias [Kidane].”
Stefan Schrander, warrant officer, Royal Netherlands Marechaussee said the co-operation between the various police forces “has already resulted in the extradition by Ethiopia last year of a close associate of his and is now followed by a major arrest”.
Kidane's brother, Henok, was also arrested in the operation in Sudan and will face charges of money laundering.
More arrests are expected as part of ongoing investigations and as co-ordination continues with several Interpol member countries.
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
