DUBAI // Three colleagues of a man who died after being sucked into a pasta mixer have been accused of causing the tragedy.
A security and safety officer and two other employees of the Al Bostan Pasta factory in Jebel Ali denied the charges before the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours.
The 28-year-old victim, MR, died when his upper body got trapped in a machine that mixes flour with water to prepare pasta.
Prosecutors said KS, 45, from Britain; FA, 30, a Filipino electrician; and KW, 40, an Indonesian machinery operator, did not provide workers with proper training on the dangers of operating the mixer, or properly supervise. A security guard called police after a worker told him about the accident at 7.30am on February 26.
The forensics report said he died instantly.
FA told prosecutors that MR had informed him about a malfunction in the mixer.
"I went along with KW to check the mixer," FA said.
While trying to find the reason for the malfunction, the mixer set off the alarm. FA asked KW to shut off the electricity.
MR, who had been standing behind him, violated procedure, according to FA.
"MR opened the automated door before the shutdown was complete and he was sucked in due to air pressure," FA testified.
KS denied responsibility and said MR died by his own mistake, adding that MR was trained to work with the mixer.
"When the electricity is shut down, the mixer's door opens automatically and should not be opened manually before that unless the electricity shutdown was complete," KS said in records.
He added that the mixer contains sharp blades and that all workers had been trained how to operate it.
"MR underwent two training courses," he said.
The next hearing will be on September 26.
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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