British Far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson says he did not go to court to be questioned about his finances because of mental health problems caused by being harassed, the High Court in London has been told.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, had been expected at a hearing in March over an unpaid legal bill, after he lost a libel case brought against him by a Syrian teenager last year.
Jamal Hijazi successfully sued Robinson, 39, after the then-schoolboy was assaulted at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in October 2018.
After the incident went viral, Robinson made false claims about Mr Hijazi attacking girls in his school, leading to the libel case.
Following a pretrial hearing in November 2020, Robinson was ordered to pay more than £43,000 ($53,000) in legal costs.
Earlier this year, Mr Hijazi’s lawyers successfully applied for an order requiring Robinson to return to court to answer questions about his finances on March 22, but he failed to attend.
The case was referred to a High Court judge who ordered the English Defence League founder to go to court on Friday for a preliminary hearing about whether he had committed contempt of court.
As he entered the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Friday morning, Robinson make a disparaging remark about the hearing.
Oliver McEntee, representing Robinson, told the High Court he was facing mental health problems and could provide medical evidence.
He said: “My instructions are he has been suffering and was at the relevant time suffering from a number of mental health issues that he says are attributable to harassment by a number of individuals.
“He is, for better or worse, somewhat of a notorious figure.”
The barrister later said: “Mr Yaxley-Lennon says, to put it bluntly, that he simply was not in a fit state of mind to attend court due to the culmination of the mental health issues and the harassment he has faced.”
High Court judge Mr Justice Nicklin said Robinson would need to attend a full hearing in August to decide whether he had committed a contempt of court, where he could provide evidence about his medical issues.
Ordering Robinson to return, the judge said: “Were he to fail to attend again, that would be an aggravating feature if the court ultimately found he did not have a lawful excuse for failing to attend on 22 March.”
Robinson will also have to go back to the Royal Courts of Justice on June 9 for the original questioning over his finances.
Nick Lowles, chief executive of anti-extremism charity Hope not Hate, said: “For those of us who have been working for justice for the teenage victim of Robinson’s vile vitriol, Jamal Hijazi, Tommy Robinson’s attendance in court today is a step in the right direction. Jamal and his family deserve justice.
“We believe that Tommy Robinson is hiding at least £3 million in assets, and have collected enough evidence to prove it.
“We look forward to seeing this case progress further, and will continue to work tirelessly to try and make sure that Jamal and his family see Robinson pay up.”
Following Mr Hijazi’s successful libel case, Mr Justice Nicklin ordered Robinson to pay him damages of £100,000 ($125,000).
Mr Hijazi’s legal costs were thought to be around £500,000 ($615,000).
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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.”
