CAIRO // A Cairo criminal court ruled yesterday that Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, sons of the former president, should be released from custody because they had already served the maximum detention period established by the Egyptian penal code.
Mubarak's sons will remain in custody because of separate corruption cases that are being heard by the courts, but the ruling raised the possibility that they could be freed, at least temporarily, by the end of the year.
Together with their father, Hosni Mubarak, they are accused of accepting villas at a discounted price from an Egyptian businessman in exchange for political favours.
The former president and several former security officials are also being tried for their alleged role in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to Mubarak's resignation. More than 850 people died in clashes with police during the protests.
Mubarak and his former minister of interior, Habib El Adly, were sentenced last year to life in prison for failing to use their powers to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising, but an appeals court overturned the conviction in January because of procedural errors. Both men have said they were innocent and denied authorising the use of lethal force against protesters.
Judge Mahmoud Al Rashidi, the head of a three-member panel of judges hearing a combined trial over the protesters deaths and the discounted villas, yesterday adjourned proceedings until July 6 after prosecutors submitted several cartons of videos and documents to be admitted as evidence. In closing the session, he agreed to give the defence more time to review the material and pledged to "dig for the truth".
His ruling to release Gamal and Alaa stemmed from the Egyptian penal code, which states that a suspect of a crime can be held for a maximum of 18 months in a case that involves felony charges or for two years if the charge could lead to a sentence of life imprisonment.
The main case that Gamal and Alaa are being held on has to do with insider trading related to the purchase and sale of Al Watany Bank in 2007.
They were charged in that case in May last year, which means they would have served their maximum detention by December of this year.
The public prosecution is investigating other allegations of corruption. If new cases are filed, the Mubarak family could see their detentions extended again.
The prospect of Gamal and Alaa being released from prison is likely to renew major protests in Egypt. There is already a growing perception that the courts have failed to bring justice to the families of the victims who died during the protests in 2011. The government has also been unable to recover assets allegedly gained through corruption and cronyism from members of the Mubarak regime and businessmen associated with the old government.
During two previous hearings, lawyers for the families broke into chants of "the people demand the cleansing of the judiciary".
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Credit Score explained
What is a credit score?
In the UAE your credit score is a number generated by the Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB), which represents your credit worthiness – in other words, your risk of defaulting on any debt repayments. In this country, the number is between 300 and 900. A low score indicates a higher risk of default, while a high score indicates you are a lower risk.
Why is it important?
Financial institutions will use it to decide whether or not you are a credit risk. Those with better scores may also receive preferential interest rates or terms on products such as loans, credit cards and mortgages.
How is it calculated?
The AECB collects information on your payment behaviour from banks as well as utilitiy and telecoms providers.
How can I improve my score?
By paying your bills on time and not missing any repayments, particularly your loan, credit card and mortgage payments. It is also wise to limit the number of credit card and loan applications you make and to reduce your outstanding balances.
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By checking it. Visit one of AECB’s Customer Happiness Centres with an original and valid Emirates ID, passport copy and valid email address. Liv. customers can also access the score directly from the banking app.
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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Barings, one of Britain’s oldest investment banks, was
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wiping out the venerable merchant bank’s cash reserves.
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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.”
