German TV team probing Qatar labour rights held, Doha says lacked permit

DUBAI // A German television team reporting on Qatar 2022 World Cup preparations was arrested after Qatar said the team did not have a permit to film.

Broadcaster WDR said its team was questioned and held by authorities who prevented them from leaving for five days.

Qatar said that any media organisation wishing to film required authorisation. WDR said the team had tried for weeks to obtain such a permit.

Reporter Florian Bauer as well as a cameraman and a sound engineer were detained as they filmed migrant workers in the capital Doha, WDR said, adding they were held for 14 hours and interrogated by state officials.

“They were not allowed to leave Qatar for five days until the foreign minister approved their exit,” WDR said. “Their camera equipment, notebooks and personal cell phones were confiscated and only returned four weeks later. All data was deleted and parts of the equipment damaged.”

Conditions for construction workers in Qatar came under the spotlight when Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported in September 2013 that dozens of Nepali workers had died during the summer and that they were not given enough food and water.

Qatar denied the Guardian’s findings, but the International Monetary Fund said the issue “could affect the availability and cost of hiring new workers in the future”.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has said Qatar must do more to protect those working on 2022 sites.

Qatar in July 2014 approved some improvements to its treatment of migrant workers, including a requirement that firms set up bank accounts for workers, pay wages electronically and a ban on mid-day outdoor work in the summer heat.

Officials were reported by Qatari newspapers on Wednesday as saying the country would build seven “cities” to house more than a quarter of a million workers involved in World Cup projects.

The Qatari World Cup event’s organising committee, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, said the WDR team had not been arrested because it was reporting on the allegations surrounding the 2022 Fifa World Cup Qatar or Fifa.

“Any media outlet wishing to film in Qatar requires a film permit to do so, as is common in many countries. Any working journalist who has visited Qatar will be aware of this process and understand filming in specific locations without permission runs the risk of legal repercussions.”

* Reuters

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.”

'Dark Waters'

Directed by: Todd Haynes

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, William Jackson Harper

Rating: ****

German TV team probing Qatar labour rights held, Doha says lacked permit

The Qatari World Cup event’s organising committee said the WDR team had not been arrested because it was reporting on the allegations surrounding the 2022 Fifa World Cup Qatar or Fifa.

'Dark Waters'