Compensation for victims of UAE’s deadliest crash finally arrives

ABU DHABI // The families of the Bangladeshis killed in the UAE’s deadliest road crash are to receive compensation after more than two years of delays.

The Bangladeshi embassy has now received a Dh3 million cheque from Al Ain Court, to be divided between 15 of the victims’ families – Dh200,000 each.

The funds are expected to be transferred within the next 10 days.

On February 4, 2013, the bus crash in Al Ain killed 21 people, 19 of them Bangladeshis, one Indian and one Egyptian.

A lorry ploughed into the back of the bus carrying 45 maintenance workers just before 8am on the E30, the Old Truck Road, next to Al Rawda Palace on the outskirts of the city.

Since then, the families, who were promised compensation, have had to survive without their breadwinners.

Sixteen of the Bangladeshi victim’s families have been pursuing compensation claims through their embassy.

The embassy has received enough to compensate 15 of those families, with the remainder expected to be delivered later this week.

“We expect another Dh200,000 during this week, then the entire Dh3.2 million will be transferred to the Bangladesh ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment, which will deposit in accounts of victims’ families,” said Mohammed Arman Ullah Chowdhury, labour counsellor at the Bangladeshi embassy.

Relatives of the other three Bangladeshi victims, the Indian and Egyptian have filed cases independently. Their respective embassies have not been involved.

Mosammat Monirun Nessa, 37, wife of Shirajul Islam from Chittagong, said on Sunday that she had struggled to support her family since the crash.

“After losing my husband I lost everything. My brother supported me through these years,” said Ms Nessa, a mother of two children; Mohammed, 13 and Meherun, eight.

She said she intended to use the money to benefit her children.

“I would invest in their upbringing, education and buying lands for them to secure their future.”

She said that despite the positive news, she still feared that the full amount may not reach her.

“We are afraid of misappropriation of the money. So please arrange the transfer of money to our accounts properly,” Ms Nessa pleaded of the embassy.

Shah Alam, 80, the father of Muhammad Borhan Uddin, said: “I am too old to do anything for my family [without] this support, and we are very concerned how the money would reach to us.”

“I have to arrange the marriage of my daughter and two sons and I would invest for their welfare,” the Chittagong man said.

Mr Chowdhury assured the families that the money would be deposited in full, as the embassy had used its own legal team and not hired outside lawyers.

The families thanked the UAE for the compensation, which amounted to more than 4.2 million Bangladeshi taka per person.

Anwara Begum, mother of victim Uddin, said she would use the compensation for “[our] daughter’s wedding, building our home and buying a piece of land for our children are our priority”.

“We would also hold a special prayer ceremony for my son,” said the 60-year-old, who also has two other sons.

“We are very old to do any work, so this money means a lot to us.”

The embassy thanked Al Ain Court, as well as the government for its help throughout the proceedings.

anwar@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.”

Bio

Born in Dibba, Sharjah in 1972.
He is the eldest among 11 brothers and sisters.
He was educated in Sharjah schools and is a graduate of UAE University in Al Ain.
He has written poetry for 30 years and has had work published in local newspapers.
He likes all kinds of adventure movies that relate to his work.
His dream is a safe and preserved environment for all humankind.
His favourite book is The Quran, and 'Maze of Innovation and Creativity', written by his brother.