CAIRO // A lawyer who once worked for the slain Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim came out in support for the Egyptian tycoon on trial for arranging her murder in court testimony yesterday.
Clara al Rumaily spent more than six hours testifying about the relationship between Tamim, 31, and Hisham Talaat Moustafa, 49, a billionaire and senior member of Egypt's ruling party.
She told the packed courtroom that Mr Moustafa had been like a "father" to the troubled singer before their relationship became romantic. Ms al Rumaily also said she was unaware of any problems between Tamim and Mr Moustafa. She even speculated that they might have secretly married.
"I and her family were very assured about Tamim in Egypt because we knew she was in safe hands," she told the court. "Then the relationship developed, and Hisham offered to pay to help her finalise her marriage problems with Adel Maatouk, as the couple had decided to get married."
Ms al Rumaily, 38, a Lebanese national, said she started working as Tamim's lawyer in 2004 when her client was living in Egypt and was having legal issues with her two ex-husbands, Ali Mozanar and Adel Maatouk.
Ms al Rumaily said Mr Moustafa paid Mr Maatouk US$1.2 million (Dh4.6m) to divorce Tamim, but he still refused to finalise the divorce papers and threatened her.
Mr Moustafa is accused of hiring Mohsen el Sokari, 39, a former Egyptian state security officer, to kill Tamim for $2m on July 28, in her flat in Dubai's Jumeirah Beach Residence.
Tamim's lawyer said that Mr Moustafa had taken her client, as well as her father, mother, brother and grandparents to perform Omra, the lesser pilgrimage. Once there, he introduced Tamim to his mother, who refused to condone the marriage.
Mr Moustafa is married to his cousin, with whom he has three adolescent sons.
After failing to marry Mr Moustafa, Tamim moved to London, where she met Riyadh al Azawi, an Iraqi-born British boxer. According to Ms al Rumaily, Mr al Azawi "controlled Tamim, who was never the same since she met him".
"He had a bad reputation as a man who lives off women's money," she told the court, adding that Mr al Azawi "had convinced Tamim to file a complaint against Moustafa, falsely accusing him of threatening to kill her".
This happened as Tamim's brother was working with Mr Moustafa, who was helping her whole family, said Ms al Rumaily, adding they used to stay at his Four Seasons Hotel, where Tamim had been living while in Cairo.
Ms al Rumaily said that despite Tamim's "intimate relationship" with Mr al Azawi, Moustafa was willing to pay another $1.5m to help end Tamim's problems with her two ex-husbands, who still maintain they were married to her.
Mohammed Salman, one of Mr al Azawi's lawyers, asked Ms al Rumaily whether she knew that Moustafa had attempted to take legal action to freeze Tamim's assets in a bank in Switzerland.
"Yes. I and her mother were very keen on preventing [Mr] al Azawi from taking away Suzanne's money, by any means," said Ms al Rumaily. "So Hisham filed the lawsuit because all of this money was his."
Al Mohammai Qonsowa, the presiding judge, asked why she had not mentioned this issue before.
"Because you didn't ask me," she said.
Ms al Rumaily said she has been in constant touch with Mr Moustafa, who called her "one or two days after Tamim was killed".
However, while she continued to represent Tamim, the singer did not tell her about the move to Dubai. The lawyer learned of her death from the media.
Tamim took sleeping pills, said Ms al Rumaily. She did not rise early and "would never open the door for a stranger".
"Suzanne didn't tell me that she feared for her life," she said.
Today the court will hear evidence from the last witness, Hossam Hassan, chief accountant of Moustafa's company.
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Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Andor
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Two-step truce
The UN-brokered ceasefire deal for Hodeidah will be implemented in two stages, with the first to be completed before the New Year begins, according to the Arab Coalition supporting the Yemeni government.
By midnight on December 31, the Houthi rebels will have to withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Al Saqef, coalition officials told The National.
The second stage will be the complete withdrawal of all pro-government forces and rebels from Hodeidah city, to be completed by midnight on January 7.
The process is to be overseen by a Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) comprising UN monitors and representatives of the government and the rebels.
The agreement also calls the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces in the city and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to ensure distribution of aid across the country.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
The specs
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Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
Sunday's games
All times UAE:
Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace, 4pm
Manchester City v Arsenal, 6.15pm
Everton v Watford, 8.30pm
Chelsea v Manchester United, 8.30pm
MATCH INFO
Everton 2 Southampton 1
Everton: Walcott (15'), Richarlison (31' )
Southampton: Ings (54')
Man of the match: Theo Walcott (Everton)
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Fixtures
Wednesday
4.15pm: Japan v Spain (Group A)
5.30pm: UAE v Italy (Group A)
6.45pm: Russia v Mexico (Group B)
8pm: Iran v Egypt (Group B)
THE SPECS
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Power: 420kW
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Transmission: 8-speed automatic
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Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
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