BANGKOK // A French drug trafficker who was part of a notorious international network that authorities say copied tactics from Hollywood's Fast and Furious films was arrested in Bangkok, officials said Monday.
Andre Cabau, 39, was arrested Friday for having entered Thailand with a fake French passport and will be deported to continue serving a sentence in France on drug trafficking charges, said Thai and French police.
“He’s a big fish,” said Catherine Occhini, a French police attaché at the French Embassy in Bangkok. “He was a big trafficker and specialised in moving drugs around Europe.”
Cabau, who was arrested in 2005 in the French city of Marseille, was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to seven years in prison, but was released early on parole that required him to remain in France, Ms Occhini said.
He absconded to Thailand, where police say he last entered in 2013 on a fake passport. He was living in a luxury apartment in central Bangkok with his Thai wife.
French authorities had worked with Interpol to track him and then alerted Thai police, Ms Occhini said.
Cabau’s network smuggled cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg into France, according to a statement from Thai police.
"Their actions copied the famous movies Fast and Furious, where they used high-speed cars to transport the drugs," said Thai police Gen. Wut Liptapanlop.
To emphasise the parallel, police showed a video clip of an apparently unrelated high-speed car chase at a news conference in Bangkok where Cabau sat handcuffed and told media, “Yes, I admit that I used high-speed cars.”
Occhini said the network was highly organised and worked at night, using fleets of powerful cars to speed the contraband across Europe’s open borders. Often, a scouting car would do a fast test drive past a police customs control and then alert other drivers carrying drugs that the coast was clear, she said.
“This case is important to us,” Occhini said. She declined to say whether Cabau was being investigated for trafficking in Thailand.
* Associated Press
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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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How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
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Investing or establishing a business in Germany offers you a residence permit, which eventually leads to citizenship. The investment must meet an economic need and you have to have lived in Germany for five years to become a citizen.
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