Robert Malley, special envoy for Iran, speaks during a Senate hearing in Washington. AFP
Robert Malley, special envoy for Iran, speaks during a Senate hearing in Washington. AFP
Robert Malley, special envoy for Iran, speaks during a Senate hearing in Washington. AFP
Robert Malley, special envoy for Iran, speaks during a Senate hearing in Washington. AFP

World

US

Biden administration 'refused' to give Congress information on Iran envoy Malley

House foreign affairs committee tells The National the Biden administration gave no meaningful answers in a closed-door briefing as to why envoy was placed on leave

Ellie Sennett
Ellie Sennett
Washington

August 02, 2023

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The House Foreign Affairs Committee says President Joe Biden's administration declined in a closed-door briefing to give details about why Robert Malley, the US special envoy for Iran, has been placed on leave.

“They refused to provide us any significant new information, including the reason his security clearance was revoked,” a committee representative told The National.

“We plan to follow up again to get actual information very soon.”

That would be the third attempt by the Republican-controlled committee to get answers from the administration over its placing of Mr Malley on leave pending a security clearance review.

Committee chairman Michael McCaul requested the closed-door briefing with the State Department after it declined a previous inquiry about the development.

“This is a person whose mission is to negotiate with the Islamic Republic of Iran – nothing could be more serious than this,” Mr McCaul had said.

The committee representative confirmed the closed-door meeting had taken place on Friday.

Washington confirmed Mr Malley's suspension in June, right after US officials travelled to Oman to engage in indirect walks with Tehran, according to Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a written response to Mr McCaul's first inquiry, the State Department said “the department is not in a position to provide further documents or information related to this personnel-security clearance matter”.

The letter, signed by assistant secretary for the Bureau of Legislative Affairs Naz Durakoglu, added that it was working on identifying “responsive information or records that may be appropriately provided to the committee given the sensitivity associated with that category of information”.

The House committee representative told The National the Biden administration had cited the Privacy Act in its tight-lipped response to questions over Mr Malley's leave.

The Privacy Act “prohibits the disclosure of a record about an individual from a system of records absent the written consent of the individual”, according to the Department of Justice, but has exceptions for disclosure, including to Congress.

The State Department declined to comment on the foreign affairs committee's characterisation of the meeting.

“Rob Malley remains on leave. We have nothing further to share at this time due to privacy considerations,” a department official told The National.

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On Women's Day
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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.”

Updated: August 02, 2023, 9:43 PM
IranRepublicans