DUBAI // A man threatened to disfigure his wife of 27 years using acid after she filed for divorce, a court heard this week.
The husband, MA, became increasingly hostile towards her after gaining Emirati citizenship in May last year.
She finally decided to divorce him after his employer told her he was suspected of embezzling millions of dirhams from his workplace and faced criminal charges.
He kicked her out of their house and told her family she was having an affair, then threatened to throw acid in her face if she returned.
The pair wed in 1986 when the husband was stateless, Dubai Sharia Court heard. They had four children - three boys and a girl - but the husband lost interest in his family after getting citizenship and refused to pay for things they needed.
"He started making up problems for the slightest reasons and would often offend my family," the wife said.
He also asked her to defraud an Indian investor who had bought two plots of land in Sharjah and paid her to register the plots because an Emirati owner was required.
Her husband demanded she sell the plots in October last year but she refused because they did not belong to her. This enraged her husband, who began insulting her in public.
"He even insulted her honour, which caused her to have a nervous breakdown," her lawyer told the court.
The lawyer said that when the investor found out he reported the husband to the police.
The wife gave the investor a written document acknowledging his ownership, further infuriating her husband. The investor dropped his complaint against the wife but pursued one against the husband.
The husband offered his wife Dh300,000 to change her testimony and tell police the plots of land were hers but she refused. He then withdrew Dh10,000 from her account.
At about this time the wife was told by her husband's employer that he had embezzled millions of dirhams from his workplace and was facing a criminal charge.
"He asked her to register her house, farm and car in his name if she wanted him to divorce her," said her lawyer, and when she refused he threatened to burn her face with acid if she went home.
He called her family, telling them she was having an affair.
"He showed her brothers faceless pictures of naked women and said it was her," said the lawyer.
The woman asked the court to grant her divorce and give her custody of the couple's children. She is seeking a three-year backdated Dh7,500 monthly alimony, expenses for a maid, nanny and driver, a car and payment of her utility bills.
The next hearing was scheduled for May 29.
[ salamir@thenational.ae ]
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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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.”
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