The world body of football (Fifa) was rocked by new allegations of corruption as the former head of England's 2018 World Cup bid accused senior officials of demanding cash and honours in return for votes.
In an explosive session of a British parliamentary committee, six members of Fifa's graft-tainted executive were accused of involvement in bribery before last year's votes to decide the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts.
British lawmaker Damian Collins said the hearing had received evidence Fifa vice-president Issa Hayatou from Cameroon and Jacques Anouma from the Ivory Coast received bribes of $1.5 million (Dh5.5m) to vote for Qatar's 2022 bid.
In separate testimony, Lord David Triesman, the chairman of England's 2018 bid until his resignation in May last year, accused four Fifa officials of "improper and unethical" behaviour ahead of last December's vote in Zurich.
"These were some of the things that were put to me personally, sometimes in the presence of others, which in my view did not represent proper and ethical behaviour on the part of members of the executive committee," Triesman said.
Fifa President Sepp Blatter, who is fighting for re-election as head of world football's governing body, immediately vowed to address the latest allegations.
"If this is true, I will fight this," Sky Sports reported Blatter as saying. "I am fighting for Fifa to clean Fifa.
"I cannot answer for individual members of our committee. I cannot say if they are all angels or if they are all devils."
Triesman revealed that Jack Warner, the influential head of the North and Central American federation Concacaf, had demanded to be paid directly around £2.5 million (Dh15m) for construction of schools in Trinidad.
Triesman, who had met Warner along with England 2018 deputy chairman Sir Dave Richards, said the request was rejected immediately.
"I said immediately the proposition was out of the question. Sir Dave said 'You must be joking Jack. You're probably talking about £2.5 million.'
"Jack nodded at that. He said that the money could be channelled through him and he would guarantee the funds would be appropriately spent."
In a second incident involving Warner, Triesman revealed how the Trinidadian had sought a £500,000 "donation" to secure the rights to broadcast the 2010 World Cup in Haiti to lift the spirits of the earthquake-shattered nation.
Warner later dismissed Triesman's allegations as a "piece of nonsense" in a statement to Sky Sports. "I've never asked Triesman nor any other person, Englishman or otherwise, for any money for my vote at any time," Warner stated.
In another episode, Triesman revealed that Paraguayan Nicolas Leoz, the head of the South American federation, had requested a knighthood during a meeting in Asuncion in November 2009.
"I said it was completely impossible, we didn't operate like that. He shrugged his shoulders and walked away," Triesman said.
The same month, Triesman and English bid members met Brazilian official Ricardo Teixeira on the sidelines of a England-Brazil friendly in Doha.
After remarking to Teixeira that he was happy to have heard positive sentiment about England's bid from former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Teixeira had replied: "Lula is nothing — you come and tell me what you have for me."
The fourth official named by Triesman was Thailand's Worawi Makudi, who had demanded to be awarded broadcasting rights of a possible friendly match between England and Thailand in Bangkok that had been pencilled in for 2011.
England were knocked out in the second round of the World Cup ballot, mustering just two of 22 votes. Russia later went on to win with 13 votes.
Triesman said he had feared damaging England's bid if he had gone public with the incidents he detailed.
"The point was not pressed," he said. "And I think, in retrospect, we would have burned off our chances. In retrospect that was not the right view to take and I accept that."
The Kingfisher Secret
Anonymous, Penguin Books
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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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.”