A banker handed a ten-year jail term after leaking the account details of 2,500 wealthy customers in exchange for a Dh55,000 bribe has had her sentence cut after a retrial.
The 28-year-old Indian disclosed the details of clients living overseas, all of whom had a balance of at least Dh500,000, to a compatriot as part of a major embezzlement plot.
The 35-year-old fraudster, and a gang of three other men from India, subsequently made seven transfers totalling Dh1.1 million from one of the accounts in December, 2015.
The bank worker was convicted of abusing her position, accepting a bribe, divulging confidential information and with aiding and abetting, during a court hearing held in her absence.
In line with UAE law, she was granted a retrial when she appeared before court.
Her jail term was reduced to three years at the latest hearing.
She must also pay a fine of Dh205,000.
The gang of fraudsters were found guilty of offering bribes, forgery, use of forged documents, embezzlement and aiding and abetting.
Each was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined Dh150,000.
Their sentences remain unchanged.
Prosecutors said that the defendants chose the particular account because it belonged to someone who had been out of the country for a long time.
They forged several documents, including a power of attorney attributed to the bank account holder, then submitted them to Etisalat to obtain a Sim card in his name.
They used the Sim card to obtain the victim’s online banking password, then made the transfers.
The Indian victim, 61, said that he had deactivated his UAE phone while on vacation back at his home country.
In January 2016, after his return to the UAE, the victim was informed by his bank that two cheques he had issued had bounced.
He visited the bank and was informed that his account had been frozen due to suspicions over the withdrawals carried out by the gang.
Police carried out an investigation into the transfers, leading them to one of the culprits, who then confessed his crimes and revealed the identity of his accomplices.
All defendants will be deported after serving their sentences.
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 0.8-litre four cylinder
Power: 70bhp
Torque: 66Nm
Transmission: four-speed manual
Price: $1,075 new in 1967, now valued at $40,000
On sale: Models from 1966 to 1970
The%20specs
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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.”
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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Switching%20sides
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