ABU DHABI // An Appeals Court judge yesterday lectured lawyers on taking cases assigned to them by the court more seriously – after one of them failed to attend the hearing of a man sentenced to death.
Two lawyers failed to attend hearings yesterday, in each case sending a colleague with a request for an adjournment.
This prompted the head of the court, Dr Khairi Al Kabbash, to warn that such requests were becoming too frequent and cases assigned by the court were as important as more lucrative, private cases.
By law, all defendants facing sentences of death or life imprisonment must be appointed a lawyer by the court.
Referring to the case of a Pakistani found at Abu Dhabi International Airport with 101 capsules of heroin and sentenced to death, Dr Al Kabbash noted the man’s defence had been compromised in previous hearings.
“The Court of Cassation bounced this case back to us because the defence was not serious the first time,” he said.
“When a lawyer is appointed and he does not have time for the case, he should apologise and not take it.
“I know appointed cases do not pay off like your regular fees but this is the capacity of the department.”
The lawyer’s representative said he was merely in court on behalf of the appointed lawyers and was not personally responsible for their non-attendance.
“I know that but I need you to deliver this message to the lawyer: this case was already bounced back because of a lack of serious defence,” replied Dr Al Kabbash.
He then adjourned the case to January 30.
A second case involving drugs also had to be adjourned because the court-appointed lawyer did not attend.
M?I, from Bangladesh, is appealing against his 10-year jail sentence and Dh50,000 fine for smuggling marijuana into the country.
His case was adjourned to January 31.
hdajani@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.”
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