Courts

Omani brothers killed by 'other enemies', not revenge-seekers, Abu Dhabi court told

Two Omani men killed in an alleged revenge attack by four Emirati brothers were in fact killed by unknown assassins, hears court.

Haneen Dajani
Haneen Dajani
UAE

April 18, 2013

ABU DHABI // Police had fired a rifle, allegedly used by four Emirati brothers to kill two Omanis in a tribal blood feud, before giving it to forensics, a court heard yesterday.
And defence lawyer Nashwa Al Qubaisi told the Criminal Court  police reports dated the tests to two days before the Kalashnikov was found.
The four Emiratis are charged with killing the two to avenge a fifth brother, said to have been killed four years ago by one of the Omanis' relatives. The brothers were said to have shot the two after ramming their car in Al Jimi, Al Ain.
At the start of the trial the court was shown a video in which police dug up the rifle. They take the gun from a hole in the ground and place it on top of a stone.
It then goes out of the camera's frame and a few seconds later a gunshot is heard.
Mrs Al Qubaisi said this proved police had used the gun before sending it for forensic testing, invalidating the results.
The prosecutor said it did not prove this was the gun fired.
"You can hear the public prosecutor in the video tell the CID agent: 'No no, you should not tamper with it', then they mention reshooting the film," said Mrs Al Qubaisi.
She said police reports lacked any record of the bodies at the murder scene, which suggested her clients had been framed.
"Where did the bodies fly and disappear?" she asked. "Then miraculously they appeared in front of Tawam Hospital four hours later.
"It's obvious the victims had other enemies who killed them and framed my clients."
Another video played earlier in court showed one of the Emirati brothers re-enact the murder in front of police and prosecutors.
"You can see he is being given orders by the prosecutor on what to do and how to hold the gun," objected Mrs Al Qubaisi.
The prosecutor said the brother was freely re-enacting the scene.
"And [how do you explain] the confessions of the defendants, and them guiding us to the weapon's hiding place?" he asked.
Lawyers for the victims' families have called for the death penalty. A verdict is expected on May 25.
hdajani@thenational.ae

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.”

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