DUBAI // Parents of special-needs children yesterday welcomed the arrest in Oman of the fugitive school boss, Christopher Reynolds.
Dr Reynolds, 60, an Australian, is accused of absconding with Dh200,000 of funds from St Andrews special-needs school in Dubai, which he owned.
He was detained with his partner, Anne Geddes, 62, an occupational therapist from Brisbane who moved to Dubai this year.
Dr Reynolds, who denies any wrongdoing, was deported from Oman and was in custody at a police station in Dubai.
“We have referred the case to the public prosecution,” said Col Mohammed Nasser of the CID.
One parent described the arrest as a “very pleasant surprise”.
Another, whose nine-year-old daughter attends the school, said: “A court is the proper venue now to determine who’s at fault here and who should take the blame for what.”
Parents and children turned up at the school in Al Safa on September 5, the first day of term, to find the gates locked. A notice said it would not be reopening “as the owner, Christopher Reynolds, has left the country and absconded with all the funds”.
Dr Reynolds’s passport was being held by a court in Sharjah that is hearing a child-custody case involving him and his ex-wife.
In an email sent to The National soon after fleeing Dubai, Mr Reynolds denied any wrongdoing and said the Dh200,000 he had taken was part of the money he had invested in the business.
He also claimed he had returned to Australia – although it is now clear he was in Oman.
Ms Geddes told an Australian newspaper they had paid to be smuggled over the Omani border at Buraimi by two men in a LandCruiser, but jumped out of the car when they demanded more money and the vehicle turned onto a side road.
They were arrested at a hotel in Sohar on September 8 and held without charge, she told Sydney's Sun-Herald. She said she had shared a cell with 35 women, sleeping side-by-side on the floor.
St Andrews has been rescued by Dubai Education and is operating normally under a new name, the Universal Academy of Excellence.
Parents said they were pleased with the way the school is being run by the new management.
Sarah Phillips's son Samuel, 7, who has autism, was pictured in The National trying to open the school's locked gates on September 5. She said: "Both my husband, Keith, and I – and more importantly Sam – are very happy with the new direction the school has taken.
“I feel it has all turned out to be a positive thing, as the school is going to become a fully fledged and recognised school. From a curriculum and therapy point of view, we are very happy. Sam has settled in so well, it’s almost as though he has always attended the school. He is now receiving speech therapy and occupational therapy throughout the week.”
She said this was a great improvement on the help Samuel received in the UK before the family moved to Dubai during the summer.
Another parent said: “The school is moving along, the teachers seem very happy, the children are getting a good education. They are introducing new activities.
“It’s a sea change in management in the way the school has been run. It has improved and it will continue to improve, you can see that.
“We are very, very grateful to everyone who showed support through those difficult times. To come out of this better, considering what we went through there, is a rare thing.”
csimpson@thenational.ae
* Additional reporting by Wafa Issa
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
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Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
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Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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