Courts

Ministry of Justice 'can reject verdict of any court'

Federal Supreme Court confirms Attorney General's power, which it called necessary to avoid miscarriages of justice.

Hassan Hassan

July 14, 2010

ABU DHABI // The Federal Supreme Court has confirmed the power of the Attorney General to reject any court verdict he deems improper, and send the case back to be retried. The landmark ruling effectively confirms the oversight power of the Ministry of Justice, which senior judicial officials said yesterday was necessary to avoid injustices.

"The Attorney General, of his own accord or by a written request from the Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs, can overturn a final court decision, whatever the court that issued it, if the verdict is based on a mistake in implementing or interpreting the law," Justice Amin Ahmed al Hajeri of the Federal Supreme Court wrote in the ruling.

While the Attorney General and the justice ministry cannot issue verdicts of their own, they can effectively prevent cases from going forward or can insist they be retried.

Intervention is restricted to cases in which litigants are not allowed to appeal a verdict, either because court deadlines have passed or in final decisions such as those of the Federal Supreme Court. The ruling allows defendants to appeal directly to the Ministry of Justice.

The Supreme Court ruling, issued in June and released to The National this week, referred to the verdict in a case in which an Al Ain businessman sued two partners whom he said owed him money. The Court of First Instance ruled that both partners were liable, but an appeals court said only one had to pay. The partner who was ordered to pay appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, which refused to hear his case. He then appealed to the Ministry of Justice for a retrial. The ministry agreed, and wrote to the Supreme Court seeking a new trial arguing the verdict of the appeals court had been erroneous. The Supreme Court granted the retrial.

The ministry's ability to intervene was a subject of debate at the most recent session of the Federal National Council when FNC member Mohammed al Zaabi, from Sharjah, accused the Minister of Justice of arbitrarily interfering "directly and indirectly" in court cases. Mr Zaabi said such involvement was unconstitutional.

"I call on the President of the UAE and the Prime Minister, and with a sense of urgency, to enforce a separation of power between the judiciary and the Minister of Justice," he said. "The minister should not be the judge, jury and executioner."

However, officials say the ministry's power to overturn verdicts is vital as the UAE legal system becomes increasingly more sophisticated and cases are often more complex and far-reaching than in the past. The requirement for the ministry to request such action from the Attorney General places distance between the Government and the courts.

A recent case of ministry intervention began with criminal charges against a Filipina, to which she pleaded guilty. After the verdict, her lawyer told the judge that she had confessed only because the Attorney General had promised to release her if she did so. The judge referred both the woman and her lawyer to the Public Prosecution on suspicion of making false accusations against an official. The two appeared on those charges before the same judge who had tried the original case. The ministry asked him to step aside because he is not allowed by law to preside over a case involving defendants he had tried before. The ministry also withdrew the charges against the lawyer, arguing that he was free to present any defence he chose.

"We only stood by the law," said Justice Humaid al Muheiri, director of the Judicial Inspection Department, which oversees and investigates court cases. Justice al Muheiri said his department examined an average of 400 cases a year on the grounds of procedural errors or misbehaviour of the judges involved.

"A judge's verdict cannot be cancelled except by a higher judge. Our role is only to oversee the court system," he said. "We overturn a verdict for the interest of the law, not for the interest of the litigants."

He said the department sends what he described as "defects" in cases to judges, showing them the errors in a decision and asking them to reconsider their verdicts. "If the judge insists on his decision, we can take the case to the Federal Supreme Court, which will decide between us," he said.

hhassan@thenational.ae

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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.”