Dubai Criminal Court for a second time rejected an appeal for the early release of a man convicted of murder 18 years ago.
The Indian tailor, 40, had his first appeal turned down in 2017.
He is one of three men serving life sentences for killing the owner of a shop in the Naif area on April 20, 2003.
The tailor and a Pakistani worker, 43, were convicted of premeditated murder in April 2004.
The third man, 50, also from Pakistan, fled but was caught in 2016 after he returned to the UAE assuming the charges against him had been dropped.
Judges heard how the three attacked the victim. The tailor hit the man with a solid object and then all three looked around the shop to steal cash.
When the victim regained consciousness, they stabbed him in the chest, neck and arms.
After making sure he was dead, they stole his mobile phone, Dh300 and his ATM card and withdrew Dh5,500.
The camera at the ATM helped the police to identify one of the Pakistani men. He admitted the crime and gave information about the others, but both had left the country.
Three months later, the tailor was arrested at Dubai International Airport trying to re-enter the UAE.
"The third partner ... who the other two said was the mastermind behind the murder, returned to Dubai in June 2016 and was arrested at Dubai International Airport," a police officer said.
“The pair told us he was facing financial difficulties and suggested they steal from the victim.”
According to UAE laws, a convict serving life imprisonment can request an early release after completing 15 years of his sentence.
A committee will examine the request and the convict’s file to decide if he is eligible for an early request.
“The committee looks at the inmate’s conduct during incarceration and if they would pose a threat to society once released,” said legal consultant Hassan Elhais from Al Rowaad Advocates.
“It doesn’t look at the original crime or the circumstances that led to incarceration, because that was the duty of judges who ruled on the case.”
If rejected, the request can be resubmitted two years later, Mr Elhais said.
The men will be deported after completing their sentences.
Company%20profile
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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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.”
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
